
Class 



T21j£(LL 



Book: L tSS, 

Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT; 



f rabk m of (Unvt 



SHELDON LEAVITT, M. D. 
Author of "As Ye Will," "Paths to the Heights," etc. 



MAGNUM BONUM COMPANY 

4665 Lake Avenue 

CHICAGO 



■«\v* 



« S 



UdHARY of CONGRESS 
I wo CoDies rtecew*" 

AUG 5 1308 

XiAjL 12^ let dfr 
fLASS '/+ AXc/No, 

C©PY 3, / 



Copyright 1908 
BY MAGNUM BONUM COMPANY 



Published August, 1908 



DANIELS COMPANY PRESS, CHICAGO 



PREFACE 

The greater part of what follows was 
presented in the form of lectures to 
physicians, at Auditorium Recital Hall, 
Chicago, during the past winter ; and, 
in this printed presentation of the sub- 
ject of Psychic Cure, the form of these 
has not been changed. An introduction 
to each lecture and an appendix have 
been added that seeming obscurities 
may be illumined and the instruction 
be brought to the reader in a more per- 
spicuous form. 

Sheldon Leayitt. 



Lesson I 



THE SUBCONSCIOUSNESS 



Conscious mind bears the same relation to the 
field of unconscious action in the body as the head 
of an institution sustains to his subordinates. 



INTRODUCTION TO LESSON I. 



As a basis for an interpretation of the phe- 
nomena associated with the practice of psycho- 
therapeutics it has seemed wise to assume the ex- 
istence of two distinct phases of mind, to which 
have been given different designations by differ- 
ent teachers. 

CONSCIOUSNESS is known as the OBJECTIVE 
MIND or SUPRALIMINAL SELF,— the "ME." 

SUBCONSCIOUSNESS has been called the SUB- 
JECTIVE MIND, the UNCONSCIOUS, the SUB- 
LIMINAL or TRANSLUMINAL SELF,— the "I." 

The general characteristics of mind, viz: WILL, 
INTELLECT AND EMOTION, are active in both 
phases. Other subcharacteristics are also seen to 
be shared by each phase. 

There appears also to be a consciousness, so to 
speak, of the subconsciousness; and indeed, there 
may be many phases of consciousness, as appears 
to be demonstrated in the phenomena of multiple 
personality. 

Acceptance of this precise hypothesis, certain as- 
pects of which are peculiar to the author, is not 
essential to a successful application of the art of 
Psycho-therapeutics as distinguished from its sci- 
ence. 



The Psychic Solution of the 
Problem of Cure. 



SUBCONSCIOUSNESS. 



Mind and Consciousness. 

Professor William James defines Psychol- 
ogy as "The description and explanation of 
states of consciousness as such." 

Were we to take this definition in a lit- 
eral sense it would rule out of consideration 
what has been termed "subconsciousness," 
an effect which would be most disastrous to 
some of our pet theories. ,, 

Elsewhere James tells us that he is per- 
fectly convinced that there are strata, planes 
or zones of consciousness almost without 
number. 

Physical phenomena plainly indicate that 
there is a consciousness of the subconscious 
realm which is ours only at brief intervals 
and under special conditions. 1 

"I suggest that the stream of conscious- 

7 



8 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

ness in which we habitually live," says Pro- 
fessor Myers, "is not the only conscious- 



CONSC/OU3NESS 




Fig. 1— Indicating how the subconsciousness touches conscious- 
ness at points and intervals. 

ness which exists in connection with our 
organism. I hold it is perfectly possible that 
other thoughts, feelings, memories may now 

•'ORDINARY" CONSCIOUSNESS 
Threshold of Consciousness 




Fig. 2— Indicating planes of consciousness below the threshold 
of ordinary consciousness. 

be actively conscious as we say 'within me' 
in some kind of co-ordination with my or- 



MIND AND CONSCIOUSNESS. 9 

ganism and forming some part of my total 
individuality." 2 

Let us understand, then, that conscious- 
ness, as we commonly know it, does not em- 
brace all there is of mind. We must include 
in mind, not consciousness alone, but all 
subconscious nerve and cellular action. 

What is termed the "threshold of con- 



Threshold of 



Consciousness 




Fig. 3— Indicating relative proportions of consciousness and 
subconsciousness. 



sciousness" may be compared to the surface 
of the sea, and subconsciousness to the 
depths beneath it. I have sometimes likened 
consciousness to the action of the search- 
light, which, as it is swept over the face of 
the waters, illumines a spot here and there, 
while the vast body of the sea lies unre- 
vealed. "That only a few spots in the great 



10 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

chart of our minds are illuminated/' says 
Kant, "may well fill us with amazement in 
contemplating this nature of ours." 

The Self. 

Herbert Spencer defines our ego as the 
permanent nexus, which is never itself in a 
state of consciousness, but which holds 
states of consciousness together. "What we 
call 'ourself,' " says Professor Barrett, "is 
a something which lies in the background 
of our consciousness, enabling us to combine 
the series of impressions made upon us, or 
the states of feeling within us, into a con- 
tinuous personal identity/' 

This self of ours is a marvelous entity 
which we cannot hope to understand save in 
a fragmentary way. Even will itself, which 
we have commonly supposed to appertain 
wholly to the conscious mind, is also sub- 
conscious. Says Hartmann, "The conscious 
and subconscious are essentially distin- 
guished by this, that the idea which forms 
the object of will is conscious in the one 
case and unconscious in the other." 



SUBCONSCIOUS THOUGHT. 11 

Subconscious Thought. 

Unconscious thinking was regarded as an 
objectionable doctrine until within a genera- 
tion or two. 

I want to make the actuality of a subcon- 
sciousness as clear as may be, since there 
are still many doubters, and with this end 
in view I quote from that eminent authority 
on psychical questions, — Wundt, — the fol- 
lowing : 

"The traditional opinion that conscious- 
ness is the entire field of the internal life 
cannot be accepted. In consciousness, 
psychic acts are very distinct from one an- 
other . . . and observation itself necessar- 
ily conducts to unity in psychology. But the 
agent of this unity is outside of conscious- 
ness, which knows only the result of the 
work done in the unknown laboratory be- 
neath it. Suddenly a new thought springs 
into being. Ultimate analysis of psychic 
processes shows that the unconscious is the 
theatre of the most important mental phe- 



12 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

nomena. The conscious is always conditional 
upon the unconscious." 

At a risk of lugging in unnecessary testi- 
mony on this particular phase of the subject 
I shall quote again from Hartmann: 

"What Schopenhauer calls 'unconscious 
rumination' regularly happens to me when I 
have read a work which presents new points 
of view essentially opposed to my previous 
opinions. . . . After days, weeks, or 
months we find, to our great astonishment, 
that the old opinions we had held up to that 
moment have been entirely rearranged, and 
that new ones have already become lodged 
there. This unconscious mental process of 
digestion and assimilation I have several 
times experienced in my own case." 

Conscious Mind and Physical Function. 

Conscious mind bears the same relation to 
the field of unconscious action in the body 
as the head of an institution sustains to his 
subordinates. The executive part of the 
work is carried on by them, and he is called 
upon to interfere only when there is some 



INITIATIVES. 13 

particular demand for his direction or aid. 
And, too, just as the head of an institution is 
able to hand over work to those in his em- 
ploy when it is to follow a customary rou- 
tine, so the conscious mind is able to stand 
aloof and take no active part in action which 
follows a customary and approved course. 

Initiatives* 

Now, I want you to note that the subcon- 
sciousness receives its initiatory impulses 
mainly from heredity and from conscious- 
ness. The influence of the former I shall 
not now consider. Having once given an 
impulse in an emphatic way, the conscious 
mind can slowly withdraw and confidently 
trust the working out of the action to the 
efficient and faithful subconscious forces. It 
is in such a manner as this that we arrive at 
our highest degrees of skill and facility. The 
young woman toils indefatigably at the 
piano in order to become a good performer. 
At first her fingers are all thumbs for awk- 
wardness, and the rules of technic are ap- 
plied most imperfectly. But, as she practices 



14 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

on, she comes to putting forth less and less 
conscious effort, and, after a time, the more 
completely she can abandon herself to the 
subconscious action the easier and better 
her execution. And then, at last, even in 
taking up new music, nearly the whole work 
is done by the subconscious mind. Let me 
quote the following from Professor Barrett : 
"Whenever self-consciousness is subdued, 
when the known and claimant 'me' retires to 
the background, then an opportunity is af- 
forded for the emergence of the 'other me,' 
of that large and unrecognized part of our 
personality which lies below the threshold 
of our consciousness." 

An eminent jurist of our city, a man of 
unusual force and calibre, recently told a 
friend of mine that he makes it a practice, 
after informing himself respecting a ques- 
tion, to deliberately commit its solution to 
his subconsciousness until such time as ac- 
tion or decision is required, when lo, he finds 
the answer ready and his wise course plain. 



EDUCATION OF SUBCONSCIOUSNESS. 15 

Education of Subconsciousness. 

Beginners, who have learned that the sub- 
consciousness is believed to be an indigita- 
tion of the Universal Mind, are sometimes 
confounded by our suggestion of the need of 
educating this large and all-wise side of 
individual man. If truly the Universal Mind 
finds expression in us, how does it happen 
that there should be a call for education of 
it in order to secure harmony and health? 

In reply to this we have but to point out 
to them the mental and physical modifica- 
tions which have been established in indi- 
viduals by heredity and a long experience in 
an environment full of unwholesomeness. 
As individuals we are permitted to use the 
forces placed at our disposal, much as we 
might use the electrical and thermal forces 
about us, for good or ill. The energy works 
as strongly in one direction as another. We 
are learning more of its laws and are be- 
coming more facile in applying them. It is 
not, it may be, so much an education of the 



16 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

subconsciousness as it is a training of our 
conscious forces to give proper direction to 
the energies which we represent. 

Will. 

■ The human mind discloses three marked 
characteristics consisting of will, intellect 
and emotion. 

Will appears to be the primitive attribute 
of life, and is itself made up of the two 
essentials, desire and faith. Wherever we 
see life we find distinct evidence of both 
these elements. Desire is at the root of at- 
traction, and is essential to organic and bi- 
ologic action. It holds all nature in its 
various forms of expression, and draws to- 
gether the elements essential to reproduc- 
tion in both plant and animal life. Uniting 
with faith and expressing itself in will, see 
what ponderous energy it is capable of de- 
veloping! It is to be seen in chemical 
combination and in developmental action 
everywhere. 

Intellect. 

Intellect and emotion are consecutively 



EMOTION. 17 

evolved. By means of the former animal 
life comes to be distinguished from plant 
life, though a subconscious intelligence ap- 
pears in cellular action even below the ani- 
mal plane. There doubtless is subconscious 
volition, intelligence and emotion in every 
form of life, but in this world of expression 
we discern them clearly only when they 
reach conscious modality. 

Emotion. 

Then comes that wealth of emotion which 
constitutes the motive power in human vo- 
litionary action. What could we do with- 
out it? The successful literary character 
writes till his ink is dry and then with his 
tears he moistens it again. The successful 
speculator cries himself hoarse in lauding 
his wares. The winning politician sets him- 
self and all the world moving along a pre- 
determined way by the very force of his 
enthusiasm. Most men grapple with the 
hard problems of life and struggle unceas- 
ingly because of the love they bear some- 
one. Strong, energetic life could not be lived 



18 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

were we not spurred thereto by our insistent 
emotions. The wise and resolute turn even 
those experiences which would defeat the 
weak and irresolute into energy calculated 
to propel them over obstacles and through 
opposition of the most disheartening kind. 
It required the emotional spirit of a Na- 
poleon to say, "There shall be no Alps." 

Effect of Loss of Balance Between Will, In- 
tellect and Emotion. 

Chronic ailments have their tap root in 
a loss of balance between those three ele- 
ments, will, intellect and emotion. I will 
not stop here to elucidate my full meaning, 
but I can give you an inkling of it. Dis- 
orders of different types are developed ac- 
cording as one or another of these elements 
is allowed to predominate to the exclusion 
or profound restriction of the others. When 
emotion is represented to an undue degree, 
and yet will and intellect ignorantly or neg- 
ligently fail to exercise their strong powers 
over organic action, no matter how conspic- 
uous they be in other avenues of expression, 



SUBCONSCIOUS EFFECT. 19 

tension of nerve and muscle ensues with 
resulting sthenic disorders. To be sure, the 
ultimate effect is loss of power, since nerve 
cannot always remain under tension without 
destructive reaction. The hysterias are 
largely of this type. On the other hand, 
when emotion is given sway, as in neuras- 
thenia, the will is sapped of its power, and 
the intellect seems unable to evoke sane 
action, no matter how well persuaded the 
sufferer may be of the delusional nature 
of his emotions. 

Subconscious Effect on the Physical* 

Subconscious influence on the body is pro- 
nounced. "The connection of mind and body 
are such," says Maudsley, "that a given state 
of mind tends to echo itself at once in the 
body." 

If a psychosis is produced by a neurosis, 
as pain by a pin prick, just as surely can a 
neurosis be produced by a psychosis. "Men- 
tal antecedents," says Carpenter in his 
Psychology of Mind, "call forth physical 
consequents just as certainly as physical 



20 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

antecedents call forth mental consequents." 
Now let me call your attention to two of 
the most marked characteristics of the sub- 
conscious mind in which we, as students of 
psycho-therapy, find ourselves interested. I 
allude to (i) disposition to reason in only 
a deductive way, i. e., from premise to con- 
clusion, and (2) suggestibility. The first 
is an attitude assumed by the subconscious- 
ness, — a differentiated aspect, perhaps, — 
voluntarily taken for specific purposes, 
among the considerations prompting to 
which is probably the development of man 
along self-chosen and continually varying 
lines. It is a factor of the greatest value in 
suggestive therapeutics, since it allows the 
consciousness to supply the premise upon 
which the curative syllogism is built. 

The second characteristic of subconscious 
mind, namely, suggestibility, makes it amen- 
able to direction, and assures its acquies- 
cence to the insistent and confident consci- 
ous volition. 

But, as we proceed, we shall learn that 



SUBCONSCIOUS EFFECT. 21 

the deeper Self is conservative, and will not 
answer to mere whims. It will accept only 
that which the conscious Self really and 
truly means. This is why we have to iterate 
and reiterate our curative suggestions in 
order to get the desired effects. 

This power of the mind, and especially the 
immediate power of the hidden aspects of 
mind over physical states, is what I shall 
seek in these lectures to make clear. It is 
witnessed every day in our clinical experi- 
ence, and a belief not only in the subcon- 
scious aspect of mind, but in the possibility 
of physical control by means of it, is essen- 
tial to an intelligent practice of psycho- 
therapeutics. 

It remains for me to show as clearly as 
I can that consciousness is but a reflection, 
a modified expression or a replication of 
the subconsciousness, for particular pur- 
poses. 

Both evidently have the cardinal char- 
acteristics of mind, namely, will, intellect 
and emotion. As an evidence of will power, 



22 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

witness the tremendous energies aroused 
when some physical emergency calls all 
hands to the rescue. Such action, I know, 
is commonly looked upon as reflex, but from 
the point of view of one who is not a ma- 
terialist the action must be regarded as 
something not to be wholly explained on 
the basis if such an hypothesis. There is 
set in motion a ponderous volition which 
throws the forces at its command into a 
strife hot enough to raise the temperature 
of the body several degrees, and to set the 
circulation into a canter. 

Intellect as an attribute of subconscious- 
ness is shown in the thoughtful way in 
which it carries on its ordinary processes in 
the organism, but more especially by the 
skillful way in which it adapts means to 
ends for the repair of injuries. In both ordi- 
nary individual and concerted cellular action, 
such as that seen in the hourly performance 
of organic processes, evidence is to be found 
to establish our assumption of a guiding in- 
telligence. There is here possible room, I 



SUBCONSCIOUS EFFECT. 23 

admit, to predicate a reflex movement as an 
adequate explanation of the amazing phe- 
nomena; but when we study the marvelous 
processes of physical repair carried on by 
those same subconscious forces, such a 
cause is clearly enough improbable. I am 
well aware that the reflex theories have 
been worked out to the satisfaction of many 
rational scientific minds, and yet I would 
have you recall how often men much wiser 
in many respects than you and I have ulti- 
mately been convicted of error by less pre- 
tentious and even less capable minds than 
their own. When I recall with what pre- 
cision and discretion the physical forces are 
marshalled and utilized by an authority 
within us of which we have no conscious 
knowledge, and which our conscious self, 
with all its boasted wisdom and knowledge, 
could not begin to equal; when I recognize 
how all the physical resources are called 
upon and are required to respond with gen- 
erosity and alacrity to maintenance of the 
common welfare; when I witness the deft 



24 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

adaptation of facilities to requirements; 
when I discover that channels have been 
grooved and gaps have been filled to meet 
physical needs with a skill far exceeding 
that of the most capable conscious faculties, 
I can no' longer deny to the Subconscious 
Self an intellectual ability that puts to 
shame our conscious powers. Moreover, 
when I find the deeper self working out for 
us with precision, physical, business and 
moral problems, and giving us the precise 
results of mentation, I am constrained to 
give to it the palm for true intellectual 
ability. 

As for emotion, did you never find your- 
self in moods the origin of which was quite 
inexplainable? Did you never have a happy 
frame of mind without knowing why? Did 
you never have a depressed one which could 
not be explained? "Yes," you say, "but 
such mental states are to be accounted for 
on a physical basis. They are built upon 
organic disturbances," Well, let us suppose 
they are. Even then it is the subconscious- 



WHAT IS MIND ? 25 

ness which has caught the impression and 
bears it to the threshold of our objective 
life. 

Doubtless these three characteristics of 
mind find in subconsciousness their full and 
complete expression. 

To some of my auditors who are accus- 
tomed to the orthodox interpretation of the 
various phenomena built on materialism, 
doubtless my construction of theories will 
appear unsubstantial and far-fetched; but 
when they realize how vastly different are 
the premises from which their reasoning 
and mine begin, I am sure they will be as 
considerate of my conclusions as I have 
ever been of theirs. It is only results which 
can determine who is nearer the truth, and 
to such an arbitrament I am very willing to 
submit. 

What is Mind? 

I cannot well leave this phase of my gen- 
eral subject without giving you an intima- 
tion of my conception of what constitutes 
the essence of the human mind and what 



26 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

are the latter's relations to the Universe. 
In doing this I am well aware that I am 
treading the uncertain paths of speculative 
philosophy, but let me plead in extenuation 
of my humble and halting attempt the de- 
mand made upon thinking people, by the 
necessities of the case, for some rational 
framework into which can be fitted the phe- 
nomena we are studying. As a wise teacher 
has said, "It is dangerous to go through life 
without either a philosophy or a religion. 
. . . Religion or philosophy, it matters 
little which flag one marches under, pro- 
vided that it be held bravely on high." 

Without parley, then, let me say that my 
conception of subjective or subconscious 
mind is that it constitutes our original heri- 
tage or constitution from the Great Primal 
Essence ; in other words, as Emerson in sub- 
stance puts it, it is an indigitation of the 
Universal Mind. The conscious mind is but 
an adaptation of the Universal, thus indi- 
vidualized for the present form of expres- 
sion. This makes the consciousness we 



SUMMARY. 27 

now know, as I have said earlier in this 
paper, but one out of doubtless many other 
zones of consciousness upon which we may, 
or shall at times and for varying periods, be 
awake. 

With such a view of man, human person- 
ality appears to be modified, differentiated, 
elaborated and evolved individuality. And 
so let us regard it. Will, being the earliest 
and most important attribute, works out in 
human beings the varieties of expression 
or character we find. I am tempted to 
go farther in elucidation, but must not now. 
I have gone far enough, I am sure, to give 
you a more exalted conception of man than 
you have hitherto had, and one which, I am 
also confident, will have a tendency to make 
you give respectful attention to what I 
shall aim to present for your consideration 
in subsequent lectures. 

Summary. 

To summarize, let me say that I have at- 
tempted here in a brief manner to show 

That there really is a dual phase to mind 



28 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

which we as physicians do well to recognize. 

This is shown 

By evidences of subconscious thinking, 
as found in the uprush of ready-formed 
concepts and conclusions not consciously 
thought out and in the phenomena of nu- 
trition, organic action, co-ordination and 
repair. 

By the testimony of experienced psy- 
chologists to the probable existence of other 
planes of consciousness than that which en- 
ables us to maintain our present identity. 

That consciousness is the executive head, 
nearly all the detail work being done by 
the subconscious forces. That after issuing 
its orders and giving the initial impulse, the 
more the consciousness keeps in the back- 
ground the more reliable is subconscious 
action. 

That, through heredity and by means of 
picked-up suggestions, the subconscious 
energies are often turned into painful and 
disordered action, which can be corrected 



SUMMARY. 29 

only throurh their re-education by con- 
scious pedagogy. 

That the three cardinal characteristics of 
mind are will, intellect and emotion . That 
chronic ailments have their tap root in a 
loss of balance or co-ordination between 
these three attributes of mind. 

That the subconscious bias is very sure 
to reflect itself in disturbed physical action. 

That the two most conspicuous character- 
istics of subconscious mind are (i) limita- 
tion of its reasoning processes to deduction, 
and (2) suggestibility. 

That the subconsciousness is conserva- 
tive; it will not respond to the unstable 
desires of a day. 

That the conscious mind is a modified 
expression of the larger subconsciousness, 
for particular purposes. 

That the human mind is an inlet of the 
Universal. 

That the subconsciousness was our orig- 
inal heritage or endowment, and that con- 
sciousness is a differentiation or modifica- 



30 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

tion of it worked out, under will, for spe- 
cific purposes. 

" So nigh is grandeur to our dust, 

So near is God to man, 
When Duty whispers low, 'Thou must,' 

The heart replies, 'I can.' " 

— Ralph Waldo Emerson. 



Lesson II 



THE RELATION OF MIND TO 
DISEASE 



31 



No close student of psycho-physical phenomena 
has failed to recognize evidences of the remarkable 
power of the mind, and particularly the subcon- 
scious mind, over the body. 



INTRODUCTION TO LESSON II. 



The etiology of disease has been the study of 
mankind from the beginning of time. In the early 
days, when man's idea of the Great First Principle 
of the Universe was as rude as his own mind and 
mode of life, constructing a God, as man has ever 
done, after his own human order, he believed dis- 
ease due to an expression of God's varying emo- 
tions towards his creatures. It was He who sent 
the pestilence ana He who raised up and cast 
down at will. 

As man got away from the theistic idea of dis- 
ease origin he was believed to be the helpless butt 
of the elementary forces in his environment and 
the numerous germs which infest his body, as well 
as his food, his drink and all his surroundings. 

It appears to have been overlooked that man has 
in himself the essentials of government and well 
nigh omnipotent powers of resistance and com- 
mand awaiting his successful utilization. In him 
there is a background of divinity which determines 
by its action the degree of susceptibility to un- 
friendly forces. It is a realization of this that I 
here seek to bring to those who pose as healers 
of physical and mental disorders among the people. 
Man at last is coming into his rightful heritage. 



THE RELATION OF MIND TO 
DISEASE. 



The Nature and Cause of Disease^ 

Having given our hypothesis of a subcon- 
scious mind by which the bulk of human 
thinking is done and in which mental proc- 
esses are worked out, our next step, in a 
study of psycho-therapeutics, will be to 
learn what we can, in the light of such a 
theory, concerning the nature and cause of 
disease. 

It will be plain to all that I do not occupy 
common ground with Christian Scientists 
and other transcendentalists in assuming, as 
do they, that disease is a mere abstraction. I 
assume that it is what it purports to be, — 
dis-ease, — a disturbance of mental and phys- 
ical rest and comfort. There is no advant- 
age to be derived from denial of a patent 
disorder. The wise thing to do is to recog- 
nize it and then take proper steps to get it 
corrected. 

35 



36 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

Nor do I harmonize with modern medical 
conceptions of either the nature or cause of 
disease. While I do not deny the structural 
changes found by a study of pathological 
states, morbid tissue and fluid specimens, 
I am compelled, because of my non-mate- 
rialistic opinions, to look upon these as the 
result of causes which reach back into men- 
tal bias and disturbing mental attitudes and 
processes. I am inclined to reckon bacteria, 
exposure to unwholesome environment and 
such like things, as the occasion rather than 
the cause of physical disturbance. There 
is a pathology of mind which lies behind 
disease, constituting nebulae out of which 
spring the concrete and recognizable states 
to which medical nomenclature has affixed 
its several tags. 

If my theories are entitled to standing I 
must be able to give a clear idea of the way 
in which such results are worked out, and 
that is my purpose in the present lecture. 

The unconscious mind, whatever be its 
nature and whatever its relations to con- 



THE NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE. 37 

sciousness and the physical brain, has been 
shown by the phenomena of hypotism, and 
allied processes, to exercise marvellous con- 
trol over the nervous, vaso-motor, circula- 
tory and other systems. A patient comes 
to me with great distress of mind and body. 
He complains of severe pain in a part, from 
which he has vainly sought relief. I quiet 
his conscious mind and give him strong sug- 
gestions of relief, with pronounced effect. 
He becomes calm in mind and comfort- 
able in body. Another patient complains of 
pain and swelling on the back of the neck. 
On examination I find every appearance of 
a carbuncle, as evinced in heat, swelling, 
redness and severe pain. The patient has 
not rested for a period of thirty-six hours. 
I hypontize him, though he does not lose 
consciousness, and suggest prompt, sure re- 
lief. I touch the spot, manipulate it and 
demonstrate its painlessness. It seems like 
a simple thing to do, but it is effective. All 
the symptoms quickly subside. I am called to 
a lady with severe nervous headache which 



38 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

has put her in bed, with buccal and axil- 
lary temperature which sends the mercury 
to the ii2° mark on my thermometer. I 
try remedies without avail for a period of 
hours, and then, by suggestion under hyp- 
notism, I bring the temperature below ioo° 
in thirty minutes' time. These are all cases 
from actual experience, and many more, 
equally astonishing, could be adduced. To 
me they show the marvellous power of 
mind, and probably the subconscious mind, 
over physical and mental states. Says Braid, 
"A belief of something about to happen is 
quite sufficient to change the physical action 
of any part." 

No close student of psycho-physical phe- 
nomena has failed to recognize evidences of 
this remarkable power of the mind, and par- 
ticularly of the subconscious mind, over the 
body. I bring it forward here so conspicu- 
ously that it may serve to introduce us to 
a more detailed study of the forces at work 
in the development of disorder in the body. 



HEREDITY. 39 

Heredity* 

I know of no better way to elucidate the 
mental origin of all disease than to take a 
typical case and trace its evolution into the 
form which secures to it a place in disease 
nomenclature. 

We shall have to begin by recalling tbe 
influence of hereditary constitutions and 

wJih 



SUBCONSCIOUSNESS ■ -mk 

Fig. 4 — Showing hereditary tendencies and large emotional 

nature. 

Movement is in direction of Emotion in expression. 

tendencies, since these are deeply impressed 
on every human being who comes into the 
world. They vary widely, as we know, not 
only in families, but in the various members 
of a family. There is an impression not 
only of general traits, but of particular ones, 
some of which mark the individual with 
peculiar proneness to certain physical dis- 
orders as well as mental tendencies. Too 



40 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

little attention has been given by medical 
and physical scientists to this important 
feature of study. It is usually plain enough 
that physical conditions are but echoes of 
mental traits. Behind a weak body is a 
weak or perverted will, with relative dom- 
inance of intellect or emotion. Back of every 
feeble and vitiated physical organism lies 
a want of balance between the main factors 
or attributes of mind, expressed either con- 
sciously or subconsciously. 

With inborn vicious tendencies of mind 
and body we need not be surprised to find 
a fertile soil for mental and physical dis- 
order. Upon such a parent stem there is 
easily grafted pathological states of great 
variety. These are the potent factors to 
be considered in our study of disease eti- 
ology, and unless they are recognized and 
considered in the adaptation of curative 
ministrations we shall obtain but a small 
degree of success. 

Suggestive Physical Modifications. 

Though these considerations are of vast 



PROCESSES OF DISEASE DEVELOPMENT. 41 

importance they do not constitute all that 
lies behind organic disturbance, for we can- 
not forget that we are continually establish- 
ing modifications, — stamping subconscious- 
ness with fresh impressions which in their 
turn create an influence on physical expres- 
sion for good or ill. This work is perpetu- 
ally going on in response to environment, 
habits of thought and character of action, 
and all usually without conscious knowledge 
of one's power to give it wholesome direc- 
tion. 

In view of heredity and the lack of voli- 
tionary guidance to mental and physical 
expression, is it any wonder that humanity 
becomes an easy prey to disease? 

Processes of Disease Development. 

Upon a mental and physical background 
like that just given, disorder frames its fan- 
tastic figures. Let us see how the work is 
done. One may have been able to avoid 
serious disturbance up to. a certain period, 
and then disorder is precipitated by a par- 
ticular occurrence, — it may be accident, un- 



42 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

hygienic environment, contagion, great men- 
tal strain, or something else,— occasions of 
disturbance among all being without num- 
ber. But between the predisposing heredity 
or acquired bias and the real outbreak of 
disease there is a period of incubation, dur- 
ing which the only modification giving evi- 
dence of a pathological tendency is in the 

Organic 



Pain Q A Q Vi 



Disturbances 

Sensations 

_j^_ 

® ® 

Fig. 5— Showing a variety of subconscious causes which 
ultimate in the conscious disorders named. 



mental and nervous centers and probably 
for the time entirely hidden. In acute dis- 
orders this prodromal stage may last only 
a few hours, or, at most, a few days, while 
in chronic disorders it may extend over a 
period of weeks, months or even years. But 
what I want you to observe is that there is 
always a stage during which the disorder is 



PROCESSES OF DISEASE DEVELOPMENT. 43 

of a functional nature, and that, too, of a 
moderate type. 

I have spoken of the period of mental and 
nerve disorder as the prodromal or func- 
tional stage ; but it is important for our pres- 
ent purpose to divide this stage into two, the 



Organic Disease 
q vv ■.:":•..;■ Neurosis :■;■■ y<P 




Fig. 6— Illustrating stages of development of organic disease. 

first being that of mere mental modification, 
wherein the disorder is a true psychosis, the 
second being the succeeding one of mental 
and nervous disorder constituting a simple 
psycho-neurosis. 

It will be understood that the original 
psychosis marking the beginning of the dis- 



44 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

order which may ultimately become a com- 
plicating and menacing organic disease, 
manifests in the subconscious rather than 
in the conscious mind. That we do not 
know the true character of the bias, or what 
constitutes the ensemble of its mental symp- 
toms, is no proof of its non-existence. Nor 
can it be subjected to scientific investiga- 

Anger- 

Poisoning the 

Grief-— ______ Bod \J> 




Remorse —~ / J Disqualifying the 

Mind, 
Discouragement 

Fig. 7 — Showing some of the exciting mental causes (or 
occasions) of disease. 

tion, as can the grosser pathology of the 
organism. 

In the etiology of much disease there is 
not only the psychic background of heredity 
and acquired susceptibility, but also an im- 
mediate or exciting cause, elsewhere called 
"occasion" of disease, of an objective or cog- 
nizable nature, in the form of injurious emo- 
tion. Professor Elmer Gates has studied the 



PROCESSES OF DISEASE DEVELOPMENT. 45 

effect of emotions upon the organism, and 
from his work entitled, "Mind and Brain," I 
quote as follows: 

"In 1879 I published a report of experi- 
ments showing that, when the breath of a 
patient was passed through a tube cooled 
with ice so as to condense the volatile quali- 
ties of the respiration, the iodide of rhodop- 
sin, mingled with these condensed products, 
produced no observable precipitate. But, 
within five minutes after the patient became 
angry, there appeared a brownish precipi- 
tate, which indicates the presence of a chem- 
ical compound produced by the emotion. 
This compound, extracted and administered 
to men and animals, caused stimulation and 
excitement. Extreme sorrow, such as 
mourning for the loss of a child recently 
deceased, produced a grey precipitate; re- 
morse a pink precipitate, etc. My experi- 
ments show that irascible, malevolent, and 
depressing emotions generate in the system 
injurious compounds, some of which are ex- 
tremely poisonous; that agreeable, happy 



46 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

emotions generate chemical compounds of 
nutritious value, which stimulate the cells 
to manufacture energy." 

The evil effect of unpleasant emotions has 
been observed by every physician, and medi- 
cine has long sought to proscribe such bane- 
ful influences. Many a child has been made 
ill by nursing the breast of a mother who 
has been under the spell of a depressing or 
highly exciting emotion. 

It must be understood that the effect of 
emotion, — unregulated, riotous, highly dis- 
turbing in character, — is not limited to the 
immediate action on the organ, but it also 
reduces the system to that vulnerable state 
where serious functional and organic dis- 
eases can the more easily make one their 
prey. That dread disease, — cancer, — in its 
various forms, as we are well aware, rises 
out of its nidus when the subject is under 
the spell of a mental depression, far more 
frequently than when he is in the resistent 
state ministered to by emotions of a differ- 
ent type. People under the power of men- 



PROCESSES OF DISEASE DEVELOPMENT. 47 

tal depression seem peculiarly liable to fatal 
attacks of pneumonia. 

The emotions in question are largely those 
of the conscious mind, but their effects are 
obtained by the influence exerted on the 

I NCI DEN TAL PURPOSI VE 

HARMS. HELPS. 

F l a lL / HUMAN 

Bad Associates «„.„„ 1 Good Associates 

^^--{ORGANISM F^. 

S''^^'' Nothing Added X% \ 
^&f''' Nothing Subtracted ^N* 

Fig. 8— Illustrating the influences at work upon the human 
organism, and the sources of help. In effecting a cure 
nothing is either added or substracted. 

subconsciousness, which has general and 
special charge of the administrative affairs 
of the body. 

In the first lecture I called attention to 
the chief characteristics of mind as embraced 
in Will, Intellect and Emotion, and took oc- 



48 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

casion to imply that an even, or relatively 
even, balance between these several attri- 
butes, or qualities, is our only guaranty of 
health. Balance in the mental realm means 
balance in the physical realm. 

Mental Effects of Physical States* 

There is one feature of the subject to 
which I have not thus far adverted, and 
one, too, which amateur psychologists are 
very apt to overlook. I allude to the effect 
of physical disturbance on the mind in both 
its conscious and subconscious phases. The 
best balanced mind is liable to become tem- 
porarily upset and thrown into inco-ordina- 
tion by adverse influences proceeding from 
physical experiences of an unwholesome na- 
ture. Severe accident is enough to unsettle 
the mind for a time, no matter how well for- 
tified it be. Even Jesus reached a point in 
his experience where he cried out in agony, 
"My God! My God! Why hast thou for- 
saken me?" There is no mind so strong 
that physical suffering cannot reduce it to 
a dangerous negativity, at least for a time. 



ALL DISEASE HAS A MENTAL CAUSE. 49 

All Disease Has A Mental Cause. 

I have said, in effect, that the prime cause 
of disease of all kinds is to be found in mind, 
and very largely in the subconsciousness. 
Now let us examine this claim a little closer, 
for it is new and startling to the average 
medical man. He is willing to admit that 
certain diseases of a nervous type find there 
their source, but is very quick to deny such 
an origin to other ailments. The claim is 
contrary to all medical teaching, and yet, 
my friends, I believe it to be literally true. 1 
I have shown how all organic disturbance 
is consecutive upon a psychosis or a 
psycho-neurosis. Even contagious disease 
has its period of incubation during which 
the disorder is really in the mental and men- 
tal-nervous stage. It is only when disease 
has progressed beyond this point that we 
find its indications exact and convincing. 
But why do not all fall under the power of 
disorder when the exposure is uniform? Be- 
cause the resisting powers of some are able 



50 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

to neutralize infection. But, upon what does 
this resistance depend for its existence? I 
reply, it depends upon a tone communicated 
by the mind in both its conscious and sub- 
conscious phases. The springs of weakness 
and susceptibility are thus found in the rela- 
tive loss of strength and balance of the three 
attributes of mind to which I have repeat- 
edly adverted, namely, will, intellect and 
emotion. 

While I have not worked out to my satis- 
faction the character of all physical disor- 
ders arising through the relative dominance 
of these several attributes, I am able to give 
you some of them. For example, with Will 
and Emotion both plus, we are able, sooner 
or later, to find evidence of delusional in- 
sanity, hysteria, or such-like disorder. In 
the former the delusion may not go to an 
extent necessitating the usual restraints 
thrown about the insane, but merely to the 
development of psychical conditions whose 
existence and persistency depend on the 
strong suggestion found in the nature of the 



ALL DISEASE HAS A MENTAL CAUSE. 51 

delusions. In many forms of chronic disease 
we find more or less evidence of such a trait, 
but the condition becomes most marked 
when engrafted upon a psychotic or neu- 
rotic basis. Hysteria, in its protean forms, 
shows a similar action. In such cases emo- 
tions, — i. e., feelings, — are given precedence 
in authority by the dominating will, and are 
allowed to carry the subject into remark- 
able manifestations of psychopathic disor- 
der. Intellect may be keen, but its dictates 
are given little weight when set against 
emotion. 

In hysteria we usually bump up against a 
will of good volume, but a will set in the 
wrong direction. Such patients are stub- 
born to the last degree, and are as immov- 
able as rocks when an attempt is made to 
bring them into subjection through coercion 
or even through argument. Our only hope 
of success in such instances is in playing one 
emotion against another until such time as 
the set order becomes broken. Having thus 
gained a foothold we can lead these stub- 



52 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

born patients out of the snares set by their 
emotions, through appeals to reason. They 
can be persuaded far easier than driven and 
that is where suggestion is able to do good 
service. 

I say we must set one emotion against 
another, much as hunters use trained ani- 
mals and decoy fowls to capture their game. 
But these emotions must be of noble and 
inspiring nature to get the best results. 
The tendency will be to let the new emo- 
tions run away with good judgment, and 
therefore there must be consentaneous train- 
ing of the intellectual and rational faculties. 

As an illustration of what I mean by the 
kind of treatment mentioned, I instance the 
effect of wholesome fear on hysterical out- 
breaks. Patients can often be protected from 
hysterical convulsions by the threat of dire 
punishment, as the use of a hot iron. Fall- 
ing in love with a noble and worthy man 
whose influence is strengthening and sus- 
taining has saved many such cases from 
the pitiable states which hysteria engenders, 



ALL DISEASE HAS A MENTAL CAUSE. 53 

The same is true of the religious sentiment, 
so closely allied to the love sentiment as 
manifested between the sexes. 2 

In neurasthenia we have an example of 
will minus, intellect normal in quality, but 
somewhat minus in expression, and emo- 
tion, as in hysteria, plus. The neurasthenic 
is ruled by his emotions, but, unlike the 

Hysteria C Will J (Intellects ( Emotion J 

Neurasthenia (wm) (C^t) (TZtio^) 

Neurasthenia (wu?) (intellect) (emotion) 

Fig. 9— Illustrating disproportions between will, intellect and 
emotion in the two common nerve disorders. 

hysteric, his will is not normal in volume, 
and therefore he does not sink into ruts 
from which he refuses to be dislodged. The 
reason is more easily convinced, and he re- 
sponds better to rational suggestion because 
intellect is not depressed below the standard. 
He is carried away and held in captivity by 
his fears. The more profoundly he has sunk 
in subjection to his emotions the more riot- 



54 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

ous do they become, until he reaches a state 
of veritable slavery to his ill-defined phobias. 
I have had cases who were so obsessed by 
fear as to be in continual terror, even in 
their own homes. 

Owing to gradually growing subserviency 
to fear and other emotions, even those of 
fatigue, there is a continually augmenting 
tendency to move in lines of least resistance, 
which reduces them by degrees into a state 
of abject and impotent weakness. 

In such cases, will being the relatively 
weak and diminishing attribute, relief can 
be had only through strict attention to its 
cultivation. Just how this is to be don'e 
must be told in a subsequent lecture; but 
as long as we are in the dark respecting the 
mental pathology there is little hope of gain- 
ing the desired results. It is useless to seek 
relief in drugs. Sometimes an ocean voyage 
or a radical change of residence or occupa- 
tion restores temporary tranquility by wak- 
ing strong and diverting emotions; but the 
lack of mental balance and the existing 



ALL DISEASE HAS A MENTAL CAUSE. 55 

wrong conception of protective principles 
are very certain again to bring the patient 
into the original state. 

Neurasthenia is sometimes induced by a 
mental state in which will is normal but in- 
tellect and emotion being plus make it rela- 
tively weak, while the plus intellect serves, 
when associated with plus emotion, to main- 
tain a state of unrest quite unbearable. 

Such a state of unbalance occasioned by 
normal will and plus intellect and emotion 
is usually associated with a weak physique, 
and often with a tendency to tuberculosis. 
I could go on and show how such functional 
disturbances, springing from a lack of bal- 
ance between Will, Intellect and Emotion, 
are apt, at last, to give rise to serious organ- 
ic disturbance. The two psycho-neuroses 
chosen as examples, to wit, hysteria and 
neurasthenia, in their varying degrees of 
manifestation and inter-relation, are the two 
basic disorders from which, I believe, or- 
ganic disease most frequently springs. 

I need not go any farther with this form 



56 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

of illustration to convince you of the fact 
that a true relationship of cause and effect 
exists between the mind and body when in- 
terpreted in terms of pathology. The ma- 
terialist will pronounce such a view of dis- 
ease etiology irrational and impossible. He 
could not consistently do otherwise, and 
therefore I shall not blame him. But I am 
not a materialist and accordingly can ra- 
tionally accept a theory of the mental origin 
of all disease, which I do not only with 
satisfaction, but, as my experience has led 
me to see, with advantage. With no clear 
conception of an etiology going behind or- 
ganic and tissue modifications in its scope, 
it is not surprising that medical treatment in 
the past has been deficient in clearness, pre- 
cision, uniformity and effect. 

Much of what I have given you repre- 
sents nothing beyond my own conclusions 
drawn from a study of disease in the 
light of my psychological knowledge. It 
is largely theory, to be sure, but our 
actions cannot be given intelligent di- 



ALL DISEASE HAS A MENTAL CAUSE. 57 

rection without an accepted theory upon 
which to base them. And yet I would not 
have you suppose that success in the use 
of psycho-therapeutics is dependent on ac- 
ceptance of the principles herein given. 
Truth is generous and considerate in its be- 
stowal of results. The essentials of suc- 
cess are but few and easily mastered, while 
the theories concerning the nature and 
causes of disease and its cure are numer- 
ous. Many astonishing psychic cures are 
made by physicians and healers who ascribe 
their successes to widely varying therapeu- 
tic action, and yet I would not have you 
infer that a rational theory is a matter of 
small consequence. Those who give at- 
tention to the cure of disease are not equally 
successful. It is but a reasonable inference 
that those who make the largest proportion 
of cures are those who apprehend most 
clearly the nature and cause of disease, and 
are thus enabled to give most effective di- 
rection to their efforts. 



58 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

Health Guaranty* 

It is clear from what I have said that the 
surest guaranty of physical health is an 
even balance between the three attributes 
of mind, viz: will, intellect and emotion, as 
they are allowed to find expression in men- 
tal attitudes and physical action. Not a 
thought engages intellect, not a vibration 
sweeps through emotion, not a question is 
settled by will but it finds an echo in physi- 
cal modification. 

The concrete Self as it exists in mind is 
continually being stamped on the physical 
organism, so that what we really are in our 
essential ego is to be read in the body. 



Lesson HI 



THEORIES OF CURE 



59 



I believe that physical cure is -wrought through 
action of the will in bringing about a correction of 
disorder. 



60 



INTRODUCTION TO LESSON III. 



Cures have undoubtedly been made in all branches 
of medicine and by use of an endless variety of 
means. But what is it that really has healed the 
patient? By what precise psychological or physio- 
logical process has the cure been made? 

The less one knows in any branch of knowledge 
the more dogmatic are one's claims. We are in- 
clined to forget that probably two-thirds of the 
sick recover of their own accord, and that one-half 
the remaining third either become incurable or die 
without troubling themselves about our treatment. 
How we can really improve or cure the remaining 
sixth is the important question to answer. "When 
a secret activity invariably takes place," says 
Forel, "apparently in response to absolutely vary- 
ing causes, which contradict one another and act, 
irrespective of any law, in the same regular way, 
with the same substance or with the same organism, 
human logic is justified in assuming that some 
of the apparent causes are either not really causes 
or are only indirect ones, which set the actual 
cause, — i. e., the real mechanism of the constant 
occurrence — into action in an obscure way. It 
then becomes necessary to discover the latter." 

In seeking a rational explanation of curative 
phenomena manifested in psychical methods of cure, 
I feel that I am arriving at a broadly rational 
solution of the general curative problem. 

I am not aware that anyone has studied this 
subject from the same angle as that herein taken. 

61 



62 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

The explanations usually made by practitioners 
of psychic methods do not rationally explain. 
Whether those herein given do so or not must he 
determined by the thoughtful student. They at 
least furnish a good working hypothesis. Abso- 
lute solution may be impossible. Though it serves 
no other purpose, this hypothesis presents a solution 
of the problem not out of accord with human 
reason. It does not lug into the process a bewil- 
dering mysticism, which so encumbers the common 
hypotheses as to make them inacceptable to ra- 
tional minds. 



THEORIES OF CURE. 



Now that we have arrived, in our study, 
at an ample idea of the framework of mind 
and its relations to the cause of disease as 
we see it in protean manifestation, let us 
turn our attention to the theories upon 
which the mental cure of disease is based. 

Mental Theories. 

And first I shall have to tell you that there 
is not perfect accord with respect to these. 
We find much dogmatism, and as stubborn, 
as we do in matters of theology, to which, 
in truth, psycho-therapeutics is closely 
allied. 1 "It is dangerous to go through 
life," says a great teacher of psychic 
methods of cure, "without either religion 
or philosophy. I am tempted without cast- 
ing any reflections on believers, to say, more 
simply, 'without philosophy,' for religion it- 
self can be efficacious only so far as it suc- 
ceeds in bestowing upon the individual 
who believes, a philosophy of life. Religion 

63 



64 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

or philosophy, it matters little which flag 
one marches under, provided that it is held 
bravely on high." 

At the same time it is easy enough to 
trace a similarity of belief in all psychic 
methods, even when the theory upon which 
the various practices are based is not stated 
in exact terms. 

Now, recalling what I have told you re- 
specting the two phases of mind, — the con- 
scious and subconscious, — and the fact that 
it is the subconsciousness which has charge 
of the organic processes of the body, con- 
ducting its work through the media of the 
two great systems of nerves, the cerebro- 
spinal and the great sympathetic, it will not 
be difficult for me to make myself under- 
stood. 

Most Theories Overweighted by Theology. 

Before proceeding, however, I want to 
tell you, with no invidious intention, that 
most of the theories commonly held by 
Christian Scientists and the other pseudo- 
scientific cults, are mainly of a direct the- 



MOST THEORIES OVERWEIGHTED. 65 

ological type, the belief being that the cura- 
tive action is that of an immanent and be- 
neficent divinity. Some of these theorists, 
including Bishop Fallows and others of his 
type, resort to prayer, and appear to believe 
in a special interposition of Divinity in our 
behalf. Those who do not resort to prayer 
as such, enter what is termed "the silence" 
and there get into special touch, as they 
believe, with infinite power and thus secure 
the desired result. A large number of New 
Thought followers believe in the Unity of 
all things and in their right to health 
through it, for which they exercise saving 
faith. But none of them, even though claim- 
ing to be scientists, are at all scientific in 
their theories or methods, but highly theistic 
and mystical. 2 They do obtain some good 
results, as far as mere physical health is 
concerned, but in healing their patients' 
bodies they sometimes place their patients' 
minds in subjection to weakening beliefs. 
Any system of cure is pernicious in its final 
effects which harbors false beliefs and a 



66 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

trust in adventitious forces. True healing 
of mind and body should raise a man to the 
commanding dignity of Selfhood, releasing 
him from a sense of servitude and estab- 
lishing his own self-mastery. Said the great 
Paracelsus, "Whether the object of your 
faith be real or false, you will nevertheless 
obtain the same effects. Thus, if I believe 
in St. Peter's statue as I would have be- 
lieved in St. Peter himself, I will obtain the 
same effects that I would have obtained 
from St. Peter; but that is superstition. 
Faith, however, produces miracles, and 
whether it be a true or a false faith, it 
will always produce the same wonders." 3 

It is evident that a theory is not always 
established by the results of its application. 

Accordingly it will be understood that, in 
detailing the succeeding theory of cure, I 
am closely following the teachings of no 
one, but am blazing a way of my own, the 
rationality of which will be cheerfuly left 
to the consideration and decision of those 
who hear or read these pages. 



CONSCIOUS WILL IN AUTHORITY. 67 

By such a process of underbrushing have 
I cleared an opening to the way which I 
shall proceed to point out to you. 

Conscious Will in Authority. 

We start, then, with the idea of a dual 
phase of mind, the conscious and the sub- 
conscious, and of a division of labor, the 
consciousness being the director and the 
subconsciousness the executive whose busi- 
ness it is to carry out the wishes of the con- 
sciousness. The latter is the legislative 
branch of the physical government and the 
former the executive. I have shown how, in 
the absence of another strong directive 
force, heredity and suggestive sensibility be- 
come controlling factors in the body. I want 
you to distinctly understand that a strong 
will makes a strong personality, when that 
will is rightly exercised, and that a strong 
personality has a commanding influence 
over the body. From this you will gather 
that I believe that psychic cure is wrought 
through action of the will in bringing about 
a correction of disorder. And, since it is the 



68 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

subconsciousness which has charge of or- 
ganic action, the demand is made on that 
phase of mind, and relief is secured through 
its responsive action. 4 

It is easy to win battles on paper, or with 
tin soldiers; but it is not so easy with real 
soldiers against a stubborn and wily foe. 
In times of peace, confidence in our puis- 
sance and prowess reaches the highest level. 
We become inflated with conceit, and fancy 
ourselves easy victors. But once a tug of 
war is really upon us, everything wears a 
more serious aspect. When favorably situ- 
ated, when there is "none to molest or 
make us afraid," and the living wheels run 
smoothly, it is an easy thing to avoid wor- 
ry; but when the grind of annoyance sets 
in and troubles of divers sorts assail us, it is 
quite another thing. And yet, even under 
the heaviest stress of life, the soul that is 
fully resolved to preserve its poise can do 
so. The greatest trouble arises from lack of 
an unwavering purpose. The man who is 
under the domination of a foolish and harm- 



CONSCIOUS WILL IN AUTHORITY. 69 

ful habit, such as that of smoking or drink- 
ing, often weakly declares his inability to 
become his own master. Why is this? How 
can a mere "way of doing things" become 
an element of so great power? How can 
the mind become a slave to its own mode of 
action? We do not have to search far to 
learn the cause. The weakness lies in lack 
of full, unfailing resolution. We commonly 
say that the volition of such a one is so 
weakened that he cannot sufficiently assert 
himself, and this is quite true; but the diffi- 
culty lies not so much in volitionary weak- 
ness itself as in the feeble way in which the 
volitionary powers are attempted to be exer- 
cised. They have been weakened through 
nonuse. The subject aims merely to try, 
rather than solemnly to do and to succeed. 
He makes a tentative effort to see how he 
may feel under the new order of things and 
casts backward many a longing glance that 
weakens his purpose and is certain ultimate- 
ly to work his defeat. I venture to assert that 
there is enough mental and moral strength 



70 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

left in every man, no matter how addicted 
he may be to evil habits, nor how weakened 
by submission, quickly to subjugate every 
adverse tendency if he will but use it. 

This presupposes a strong suggestibility 
of the subconscious mind. You will recall 
what I said in my first lecture with re- 
gard to the characteristics of this phase of 
mind. They were there said to be sug- 
gestibility and a limitation of mental proc- 
esses to deductive reasoning. It is with these 
in mind that we will now pursue our study 
of the theory of cure. 

All Cures are Self-Cures. 

It has already become evident to you that 
I assume all cure to be self cure. Most 
minds are at first startled by this claim. 
You may be, but when you come to 
reflect you will find that it must be so. 
And it is true not only of psychic cure 
but of every cure, no matter how wrought. 
Let us assume that you administer a rem- 
edy in hope that it will work a cure. You 
will confess that the remedy itself carries 



ALL CURES ARE SELF-CURES. 71 

to the patient nothing not already within 
his possession or within his reach, but you 
expect that remedy to set up a more ration- 
al action in the system. If it does so, in 
what manner does it accomplish the work? 
Is it not by setting the mental and physical 
forces themselves, in some way, into more 
harmonious and energetic motion? Even 
though in anemia you administer iron, you 
expect the ultimate good to come, not 
through absorption of that metal into the 
blood, where it will remain but a short 
time unless continually renewed. You very 
well know that the organism of the patient 
has all the iron offered it every day, in the 
ingested food, that it can utilize, and more 
too, but the trouble is that, for some un- 
known reason, it refuses to accept it. Flood- 
ing the blood with iron may give tempo- 
rary aid, but you are not foolish enough to 
trust to that action alone for the final good 
effects. No, you expect merely by this 
drug to set things moving again in a nor- 
mal maner. Just how it is to be done you 



72 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

do not know. Your real appeal is to the 
vis medicatrix naturae. It is so in every 
instance. 

Accordingly, we are not departing from 
true medical principles in assuming that 
curative action is to be found through action 
of the patient's own forces. 

Then, sifting out all but the residue, which 
is truth, we find that our aim in treatment of 
every sort should be to obtain the ear of the 
subconsciousness and command its obedi- 
ence to our conscious behests. Whether 
this can best be secured through drugging, 
beating, blistering, vibrating, poisoning and 
otherwise abusing the body, or through di- 
rect and indirect action of the conscious 
mental forces as practiced through mental 
suggestion, remains to be seen. In any 
event the effect sought can be obtained 
through no other medium than the subcon- 
sciousness. 

I have told you something of the true 
etiology of disease, how it always results 
from some mental bias, and the part that 



THE SPECIFIC PROBLEM OF CURE. 73 

the three mental attributes, will, intellect 
and emotion, play in its production. I have 
taken especial pains to point out the grand 
role of will in the maintenance of health 
through the character and tone which it 
communicates to the body, and I have 
sought with equal care to show you the 
pernicious physical effects of ungoverned 
emotion. To a superficial view these two at- 
tributes of both conscious and subconscious 
mind are irreconcilable enemies; but' they 
are not. At the same time it is all important 
that emotion be kept strictly under the con- 
trol of will. The latter derives its energy 
and effectiveness from emotion, and with- 
out a good supply of it it would be much 
like a steam-craft without enough steam 
to work the machinery. 

The Specific Problem of Cure. 

It follows that in disease there is a pre- 
ceding and consentaneous loss of suitable 
balance, especially between these two men- 
tal attributes, and the problem of cure is 
one of recovery of equilibrium. How is this 



74 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

to be done? The old method consists in 
subduing the predominance of the emotion- 
al nature by the use of sedatives and reme- 
dies calculated to obtund sensibility. If 
there be discomfort in a part, give it rest. 
If it feel tired, cease to use it. If there 
be complaint in any way attributable to 
action, suspend it. In other words, the 
plan has been to humor the suffering part 
and otherwise begin to move more pro- 
nouncedly in lines of least resistance. But 
the method is irrational, and, in the end, it 
proves disastrous. Anything which tends 
ultimately to reduce the force of volition, 
even though it bring temporary relief, is 
sure at last to prove detrimental. 

Under the new theory an opposite course 
is pursued. If a part rebels without good 
cause, it is not favored, but, on the con- 
trary, is disciplined. Even after minor ac- 
cidents, instead of giving an injured mem- 
ber entire rest it is usually better to keep 
it in service. A few weeks ago my daugh- 
ter sprained her ankle. The injury was ex- 



THE SPECIFIC PROBLEM OF CURE. 75 

ceedingly painful, causing fainting. She was 
brought home and the foot was well soaked 
in hot water and was massaged. A good 
deal of passive exercise was given it. The 
ankle was swollen and painful, keeping her 
awake a large part of the first night. I en- 
joined use of it, massaged it often and in- 
stilled assurance. On the third evening, 
though the ankle was still slightly swollen, 
she attended a party, with my permission, 
and took part in six dances with perfect 
comfort. The ankle has not troubled her 
since, except for a few days in the early 
history of the case, when given too much 
rest, and then but slightly. A physician now 
in the room who came to me for help was 
advised to defy certain pains in the legs and 
give those members more than usual exer- 
cise whenever it recurred. He did so with 
relief. I practice what I preach. Whenever 
a pain comes into any quarter of my body, 
instead of giving the part rest and nursing 
it on fear-thought I work it up and keep 
it more active than usual, always with an 



76 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

accompanying thought of command. I arn 
satisfied that the Christian Scientists have 
taught us a lesson concerning women after 
parturition. We keep them in bed too long. 
They would do better to be up and down 
as they please, in most cases, from the sec- 
ond day onwards. The truth is, an up* 
right position in the days immediately suc- 
ceeding delivery, insures better drainage, 
greater activity of circulation and less lia- 
bility to septic troubles. 

Healing a Process of Will-Training:. 

This new method of treatment is bene- 
ficial in the main because it involves voli- 
tionary exercise. It is a process of will train- 
ing. It hurts to get about on a sprained 
ankle, and therefore we plead our inability. 
We feel languid and weak when disturbed, 
and it requires an effort of will to move. 
I encourage my patients to keep about and 
to become engaged in some useful work, un- 
less there is considerable elevation of tem- 
perature or extreme danger of syncope. Did 
you ever notice that, in instances of crip- 



HEALING A PROCESS OF WILL-TRAINING. 77 



pled heart, the patient rarely dies under the 
stimulus of effort, but usually when sitting 
or lying in quietude? Those who die from 
exercise are those whose nervous systems 
have become weakened and in whom self- 
command is deficient. 

The human will! Do you know, I am 
coming to respect it more and more? It is 



Will reduced 
through moving 
in lines of small 
resistance. 




Will augmented 
through moving 
in lines of strong 
resistance. 



Fig. 10— Showing will asa basisof health andhappiness; astrong 
and normally-exercised will meaning self-control. 

our greatest reliance in all emergencies. In 
the practice of psycho-therapeutics there is 
nothing to compare with it. And yet, my 
hearers, our New Thought and Christian 
Science friends are ready to call me inane 
because I so highly exalt it. Like the Or- 
thodox Christian, they are too disposed to 
enjoin trust in outside, or at any rate ex- 



78 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

trinsic, aid, on humanity. Here is the wide 
and distinct line of separation between me 
and them. I believe in an immanent Di- 
vinity, as do they. I believe that all power 
is inherent in the All, as do they. I be- 
lieve that we are guided and sustained by 
that Power, as do they. But here our faith 
likeness appears to end. They advise us 
not to assert ourselves, but to fall back upon 
the Absolute and to trust ourselves wholly 
to Him. My attitude is one of Self-assertion. 
If we are a part of the Infinite Perfection, 
why need we be so afraid to stand up in 
our nobility of relationship and assert our 
power over ourselves and our environment? 
I believe in the divinity of man. No ex- 
ceptions have been made among us; all 
have the same essential essence, though 
in many the Godlikeness is still slumbering. 
We are in authority over ourselves, but, of 
course, within limitations, for all power has 
its bounds. The human mind cannot con- 
ceive authority absolute and unlimited, 
though we often speak of it. 



HEALING A PROCESS OF WILL-TRAINING. 79 

But what is will? The best definition 
that I am capable of giving is, attention 
with expectation of consequent action. In 
matters physical you merely turn your 
thought toward definite action with assur- 
ance, and behold! the thing is done. The 
action can be made more energetic by con- 
vergence of more thought rays. Sometimes 
so much energy is put into the mental effort 
that the body joins in an expression of its 
intensity, the brows contracting, the mas- 
seter muscles coming into exercise, and vari- 
ous other muscles of the body joining in 
the expression of mental action. 

It is attention with expectation, and there- 
fore there is involved that attitude of mind 
called faith. When I say, "Without faith 
you can do nothing," it is equivalent to 
saying, "without will you can do nothing." 
This leads me to add that an analysis of 
Will discloses two distinct elements enter- 
ing into its structure, namely, Desire and 
Faith. I have elsewhere, and particularly 
in my work on psycho-therapeutics, "AS 



80 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

YE WILL," dwelt at some length on these 
features, and I cannot do better than quote 
therefrom as follows: "My idea is that the 
potential elements, Desire and Faith, be- 
come dynamic or active, in Will. For ex- 

CONSCIOUSNESS 



^a^2-^^^ 




Fig. 11 — Showing- relatively large emotion and normal will and 
Intellect. Such a condition prevails in hysteria. Cure comes 
from will taking possession and dominating emotion. Its 
commands take effect through both conscious and subcon- 
scious action. Dotted lines show the course taken. 



ample, we earnestly desire health, and as 
earnestly believe that we shall have it; or, 
better still, we believe that it is essentially 
ours. Having gone so far, the energies 
of Desire and Faith unite to express them- 
selves in Will, which reaches forth and 



ONE CANNOT CURE HIMSELF. 81 

takes the object sought. We can desire a 
thing and believe that we shall have it, to 
the end of time. The object of our desire 
and faith recedes before us as does the hori- 
zon before the traveler. It is only when 
the energies of Will are evoked that the 
whole process comes to a climax." 

One Cannot Cure Himself Without Aid* 

I have thus far given you the process as 
it is worked out in the individual in response 
to a personal application of the principles 
of action to which reference has been made. 
I have assured you that all cures are self- 
cures, but I am obliged to add that the 
power to effect them has to be stirred and 
directed by another. One cannot often cure 
himself. The process is a biogenic one. 
Cure comes from fertile contact between 
two souls, just as surely as new life comes 
from fertile contact between two bodies. 
There is no such thing as spontaneous gen- 
eration. 

Sacred fire is essential, and the only feasi- 
ble way to get it is to receive it from an- 



82 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

other. The ready flint and steel with which 
to originate psychic fire, and the skill to 
catch the spark, are rarely ours when we are 
ill. One torch has to light another. Thus 
the energy is spread and thus it shall be to 
the end of time. 

As units we are interrelated. The vitality 
of one unit vivifies others until a community 
of dependence becomes established. 

At root we are all one, and it appears to 
be a part of a general plan to group us for 
diversified expression. 

The thoughts of my mind reverberate 
through the corridors of your sentient being, 
though you may know it not ; and the ques- 
tion of effect is determined by your vibra- 
tory harmony — or lack of it. 

The power to be and to do is within us; 
but it remains latent until aroused into ac- 
tion by the fire of another soul. 

There is much within us that we wot not 
of. Man is a miniature universe. 

A thimbleful of water represents sufficient 
energy to split in twain the solid mountain ; 



ONE CANNOT CURE HIMSELF. 83 

but it requires that the elements of the water 
and those of certain agents come into con- 
tact, and that certain precedent conditions 
be established , in order that a rapid and 
enthusiastic union take place and energy 
thus be liberated. Just so must one soul 
quicken another into action or its powers 
slumber on. Knowing how to do a thing 
does not communicate the faculty for doing 
it nor the zeal needed to carry it to a cli- 
max of completion. The child may under- 
stand that close application to study will 
develop his mental powers, but the knowl- 
edge commonly avails little unless he also 
knows that requisite effort has to be set in 
motion and continually sustained by a com- 
petent teacher. Few succeed in educating 
themselves to a good degree of proficiency. 

One should remember that his very ail- 
ment evinces a lack of the chemism upon 
which the efficiency of self-help depends. 

He needs the command of a strong soul 
to his inert self, "Rise and walk." 

There are so many unfriendly conditions 



84 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

to divert, to discourage, to frighten, that 
the strongest soul, if struggling alone, is apt 
to fall into a negative state and become 
powerless under the smarts and bruises of 
mental and physical life. Is it any won- 
der, then, that he who has a heritage of 
mental and physical weakness, even though 
he knows the ins and outs of modern hygi- 
enic thought, finds himself unable to main- 
tain the posture of a master? Many a noble 
soul have I found vainly struggling with 
inimical conditions, who, upon being given 
the warm hand of helpful sympathy, the 
suitable direction to energy and the word 
of strength and courage, has been able to 
stand erect in the divine image and to walk 
like a god among men. 

We cannot continue well and happy un- 
less in harmonious touch with another 
soul capable of inspiring us by the wealth 
of his or her nature to strong self-helpful- 
ness. 

Many come to me in need of aid who are 
greatly distressed over their inability to 



ONE CANNOT CURE HIMSELF. 85 

help themselves. That they cannot readily 
do so is often the cause of doubt and dis- 
couragement. I have now under treatment 
several able physicians who have struggled 
in vain to lift themselves by their boot 
straps. 

The locomotive that has left the track is 
as powerless to do the work for which it 
was intended as is a fish to swim in the at- 
mosphere. It may puff and whistle, but the 
more energy shown the deeper in the sand 
do its wheels become embedded. What it 
needs is a hoist and swing from the re- 
sources of the wreck car. When its wheels 
have been once more squarely set upon the 
tracks it is just as ready for a great stunt 
as ever. 

So long as we do not pose as Supreme 
Beings it is no humiliation to confess an 
occasional need of help. We are co-work- 
ers, each having his own distinctive duties 
and responsibilities. We are more or less 
dependent on our fellows. The hand cannot 
say to the foot, "I have no need of thee," as 



86 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

it readily learns when its duties lie at a 
distance from its present whereabouts. Both 
the hand and foot derive their power and 
skill from the same source, .but the power 
is differentiated in each. 

My own conviction is that true physicians, 
like true poets and musicians, are born, not 
made. The poetic and musical spirit mani- 
fests in varying degrees in all, but it is con- 
spicuous in only the genius. In every voca- 
tion there is always room at the top. Among 
healers the Man of Galilee has ever ranked 
first. The truth of His cures has been 
more or less obscured by the high coloring 
given the narrations by astonished, super- 
stitious and ignorant followers ; but that His 
efficiency outstripped that of others there is 
no room for doubt. And yet He Himself 
said that His successors should do "greater 
works." That they have not done so is 
probably due to the paralysis of superstition 
and doubt. 

Let those of like faith with ours who are 
vainly striving alone to overcome their men- 



ONE CANNOT CURE HIMSELF. 87 

tal and physical weaknesses think not, be- 
cause of their failures, that psychic power 
has waned. There is abundant help for all 
when rightly sought. He who makes a bus- 
iness of curing others and who himself has 
been repeatedly thrown, need not be shorn 
of one whit of his power, even over himself, 
save for the moment. 

The physician, by virtue of his healing 
ministry, is not certified as an omnipotent 
dispenser of psychic power any more than 
a teacher of music, by virtue of the fact 
that he is able to teach the most advanced 
pupils, is necessarily an unsurpassed singer 
or player. One may be a superior teacher or 
healer of others without being able to ex- 
emplify in his own life the principles which 
others are better able to put into practice 
under his direction. At the same time he 
who excels in both theory and practice is 
always to be preferred. 

In the curative process, as well as the edu- 
cational one, the work consists merely of 
an elaboration and judicious use of one's own 



88 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

energy. It is the development of resident 
power through suitable use. On hearing this 
many patients illogically jump to the con- 
clusion that immediately on learning the 
general principles of cure they ought to be 
able to carry on the curative process in 
themselves without the aid of a competent 
director. 

But such reasoning is harmfully irration- 
al. It would be as reasonable for one to set 
out to train his own voice or to learn the 
intricacies of electrical technique without a 
teacher. These things can be done, but only 
by geniuses. 

We are not quick to discern our own 
weaknesses nor to discover the causes of our 
own failures. We need the advice and en- 
couragement of v one competent to discern 
and strong to uplift. We never do as well 
as we know, even under the eye of a pre- 
ceptor; but the presence of one who recog- 
nizes and authoritatively rebukes our fail- 
ures and applauds our successes is a great 
advantage. 



ONE CANNOT CURE HIMSELF. 89 

In the healing art there is room for all the 
tact and skill of a genius. One must be se- 
vere and gentle; one must scold and praise, 
alarm and soothe, startle and quiet, drive 
and lead, whip and caress, blame and com- 
pliment, interdict and urge as occasion may 
require. But in the midst of it all he must 
acquire and hold the confidence and esteem 
of his patients. To do all this successfully 
and thereby to work his cures is to prove 
one's right to the title of true physician. 



Lesson IV 



RATIONAL RANGE 

OF EFFICACY OF 

PSYCHIC METHODS 



91 



I say again, as I have said many times before, 
that drugs, and surgery, and massage, and elec- 
tricity, and water, and serums doubtless have their 
place. At the same time I am enough of an enthu- 
siast to affirm that mental measures are superior 
to any one of them,— I had almost said, to all of 
them. 



92 



INTRODUCTION TO LESSON IV. 



The topic of this lesson is a most important one. 
We desire to avoid, on one hand, an inane fanati- 
cism which would lead us to "believe that the kind 
of psychic aid we are capable of giving is therapeu- 
tically omnipotent, and on the other hand a skepti- 
cism which will deprive us of results that an un- 
wavering confidence can best bring. There is such 
a thing as disappointing overconfidence, and there 
is likewise such a thing as damaging doubt. Our 
true course lies between these extremes. 

I am satisfied that we have not arrived at a 
rational opinion of psychic possibilities. We are 
apt to underestimate them, and it is far better 
to err, if err we must, on the side of confidence. 
What science has declared impossible in the do- 
main of psychics has been made practical more 
than once within our recollection; and the earnest 
and enthusiastic experimenter in metaphysics 
should therefore take courage to push onwards the 
lines of supposed limitations. 

The author has made no rash claims in this 
lesson, but has kept well within demonstrable 
bounds. Let the skeptic rail at any of the claims 
herein made if he must, but he will cease to do 
so as soon as he himself shall make an unprejudiced 
study of the facts which it is quite possible to 
adduce. A better understanding of disease etiology 
brings the cure of organic ailments by psychic 

93 



94 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

means quite within the range of possibility. It 
is our fragmentary and one-sided views of a com- 
plex chain of events which leads us into pernicious 
bias and paralyzing dogmatism. 



THE RATIONAL RANGE OF PSYCHO- 
THERAPEUTICS. 



Having studied the phases of mind in 
which we are especially interested, the na- 
ture of disease and the theories of cure, we 
are prepared to take a survey which shall 
determine the range of action and extent of 
the field rationally belonging to psycho-ther- 
apeutics. 

In doing so we shall lay aside all preju- 
dice and divest our minds as far as we can 
of false notions respecting not only the new 
methods, but likewise the old. We cannot 
afford to be dogmatic and biased, for there 
is too much suffering in the world calling 
for relief to justify us in idle contention. 
Were modern orthodox practices conspicu- 
ously efficacious there would be good occa- 
sion for a stout and searching criticism of 
the newer ones for which a few of us 
stand. If the latter are no more efficacious 
than the former they are entitled to as good 

95 



96 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

standing. There are some who take occa- 
sion to sling ridicule at psycho-therapy be- 
cause it sometimes fails. Its advocates do 
not claim for it uniform success. He who 
used it in the most adept manner, and stands 
as the Master Physician of all time, even he 
did not always succeed, his failures having 
been due to lack of faith on the part of the 
sufferers and their friends. 1 Let those who 
say, "Aha! Aha!" at failures of psycho-ther- 
apeutics take heed to their own failures. 

It Has Power Over Organic Disease. 

I am not here to defend psychic methods 
of cure in their application to functional dis- 
orders, for the day of" delivery from that 
attitude long since arrived; but I am here 
to carry these methods into fields where 
they have not yet a good standing. 

Orthodox medicine is now willing to con- 
cede the power of psycho-therapy over func- 
tional and nervous disease, but denies that 
it has any power over organic lesions. I am 
going to take the affirmative side of this 
controversy, but before proceeding with my 



IT HAS POWER OVER ORGANIC DISEASE. 97 

arguments I want to inquire upon what 
ground the advocates of old methods vaunt 
themselves. Who among them are able to 
cure organic disease? And what organic 
lesions can be named as amenable to 
drug methods? 2 It will be understood 
that all collateral measures, such as the reg- 
ulation of habits, the elimination of harm- 
ful food, drink and environment, the benefits 
of surgery, mechano-therapy and other such 
means, together with the substitution of 
general hygienic practices and modes of life 
belong as much to psycho-therapy as to any 
other means of cure. I am not asking for 
a sweeping substitution of new methods for 
old, but merely for an admission of psychic 
measures upon equal terms with the old. 
I abhor exclusive methods as much as any- 
body. I say again, as I have said many 
times before, that drugs, and surgery, and 
massage, and electricity, and water, and 
serums doubtless have their place. At the 
same time I am enough of an enthusiast to 
affirm that mental measures are superior to 
any one of those mentioned. 



98 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

The present chief bone of contention is 
that which I am now about to present, 
namely, the possibility of cure of organic 
disease by psychic means. 

How Organic Disease Develops. 

You will recall what I said in my second 
lecture about the genesis of organic lesions. 
I there said that there is a prodromal stage 
in all disease, during which there is noth- 
ing more than a mental (subconscious) 
modification of the organism, wherein the 
disorder is a true psychosis, and that there 
is a second stage of mental and nervous dis- 
order constituting a simple psycho-neurosis. 
Says Dubois, "There is an ultimate limit 
where the simple functional diseases pass 
into organic affections. On the other hand, 
we see incurable diseases, such as Parkin- 
son's disease, and very serious maladies, 
such as Basedow's disease, occurring under 
the influence of an emotion, which, at the 
beginning, could only alter the function." 

Up to the moment when a functional dis- 
order becomes organic, that is to say, while 



HOW ORGANIC DISEASE DEVELOPS. 99 

the disease is still in the psychotic or psy- 
cho-neurotic stage, the possibility of cure 
by psychic means is usually conceded. 

Observe, now, the further course of the 
disorder as we find it slowly merging into a 
true organic lesion. Subconsciousness 
(commonly called Nature), is working un- 
der difficulties, and sometimes in a dispirited 
and half-hearfed way, to maintain a suit- 
able balance. It sometimes does this by 
making short cuts and resorting to make- 
shifts of various kinds, with astonishing in- 
telligence. At last, when these expedients 
have to be maintained for an indefinite peri- 
od, what was at first but a functional ac- 
commodation develops into a formal, and 
usually permanent, change of structure ir 
some part of the organism. 

During all this time the original cause 
of the disturbance maintains its influence 
and the resulting psycho-neurosis in merg- 
ing into organic disease preserves its true 
relationship in the chain of pathologic 
events. This stage having been reached 



100 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

the orthodox pronounce the disease irreme- 
diable by mental measures. 

Let us glance for a moment at the true 
situation and the rational indications in the 
matter of treatment. 

Here is an organic disease owing its 
origin to some influence the disturbance 
occasioned by which began in the subcon- 
scious realm. Only when it blossomed out 
into an organic affection did we become 
aware of its true nature. But here it now is 
in a form clearly disclosed to our objective 
sense. 

Rationale of Treatment. 

Concerning the question of treatment let 
my listeners act as jurors to determine 
which is the more rational of the two meth- 
ods soon to be proposed. 

Before proceeding further let us come to 
an understanding of what shall constitute 
cure in the sense in which the term is here 
used. DIS-ease may be rightly said to have 
been cured when EASE has been established. 
One is essentially well when he has no dis- 



RATIONALE OF TREATMENT. 101 

comfort or disability of a mental or physi- 
cal nature. To restore one to such a state 
is what has usually been termed a "symp- 
tomatic cure." Organic changes established 
by disease are always in a large or small 
degree permanent. Structures once invaded 
by proliferative or disorganizing processes 
never return to their primitive state, and 
yet they often remain under arrest with- 
out in any way creating disturbance. If en- 
tire restoration be insisted upon as a condi- 
tion of cure, it may be said that organic 
disease is never cured. 

Are we not then driven to regard removal 
of dis-ease (discomfort) from both mental 
and physical planes as a substantial cure? 
Any other cure is impracticable. 3 

We shall now do well to glance at the 
modus by which such a cure can be 
wrought. Let us suppose, for illustrative 
purposes, that we are dealing with a case 
of pulmonary tuberculosis. 4 It will not be 
supposed, I hope, that I claim that every 
case of pulmonary tuberculosis can be made 



102 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

to respond to psychic treatment. Far from 
it. At the same time I do not hesitate to 
affirm that most cases of the kind which 
have not advanced beyond a point where 
the life forces cannot be rallied in time to 
avert a fatal issue, and in all cases, as well, 
wherein the right conditions of mind and 
management can be secured, can be cured. 
When you understand what I mean by this 
claim it will not look so absurd. You 
ask, what are the right conditions? I 
confess we do not know them all. We 
know some of them and are learn- 
ing others. It is sure that they will never 
be found in thinking, reasoning man so long 
as search is made wholly in the direction of 
physical things. It is equally true that they 
will never be found by those who are look- 
ing altogether for mental aid. It is essential 
to combine the two directions of search. 
"But," says some one, "what about spiritual 
conditions?" I reply, there may be a third 
plane of living rising superior to the physi- 
cal and the mental, but I am unable to dif- 



"RIGHT CONDITIONS" FOR CURE. 103 

ferentiate between mental and spiritual 
things. I believe what is commonly called 
"spirituality" is an association of intellect 
and emotion, with emotion predominating, 
will, in such instances, exercising but a 
small influence over the combination. 

44 Right Conditions" for Cure. 

What, then, constitutes right conditions 
for cure as at present understood? They 
are: 

(i) Conviction in the mind of both pa- 
tient and physician that a cure can be 
wrought. 

(2) Faith on the part of both in the 
measures employed. 

(3) Power in both to exercise volition in 
an unwavering manner in the right direc- 
tion. 

(4) Sufficient means to provide treat- 
ment which shall involve daily visits to 
or from the physician without anxiety con- 
cerning expense, and provision for such ac- 
cessories in the form of nursing and help- 



104 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

ful attendance as may be deemed service- 
able. 

I believe there are certain drugs which, 
in this disorder, may prove of service, and 
these I should not hesitate to use. There 
are many other adjuvants of an approved 
nature which are not to be omitted. In 
short, I should not hesitate to use any 
means offering encouragement, just as 
would the orthodox practitioner, and in ad- 
dition I should employ with great confi- 
dence mental suggestion in its various 
forms, not only to arouse the energies of 
the patient to independent movement in a 
right direction, but also to make more ef- 
fective the other means employed. 

I have not yet had an opportunity to use 
psycho-therapy in this disorder, under such 
favorable conditions; but, my experience 
with the disease under adverse circum- 
stance leads me to have great confidence 
in an ideal treatment such as I have out- 
lined. A Sanatorium providing facilities for 
the application of such measures, conducted 



"RIGHT CONDITIONS" FOR CURE. 105 

by people who have confidence in them, is a 
desideratum. 5 

But I ought to give some detailed con- 
sideration to certain of these "right con- 
ditions." Let us look at them a little closer. 

(i) A conviction in the mind of patient 
and physician that a cure can be wrought. 

There is no possibility of cure of disease 
of even a functional nature unless a con- 
viction of the possibility of cure can be 
awakened in the patient's mind. Every 
means has to be used to arouse faith. There 
are some patients who have no faith be- 
cause they have no desire. To work with 
such a patient is like lifting a limp body; 
it is a dead weight. There is no use at- 
tempting a cure of one seriously ill unless 
some response to stimulation is received. I 
have especial reference now to adults whose 
conscious minds are always offering oppo- 
sition. 

Then, respecting the physician himself, it 
should be said that it is no wonder that 
mere experimenters with psycho-therapy so 



106 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

commonly fail. They are unable to vitalize 
the mental seed sown. Being inert, it can- 
not be else than unfruitful. 

Psychological experiments are more elab- 
orately conditioned by unstable and transi- 
tory factors than are physical, and due al- 
lowance should be made for this. We are 
here dealing with subtle forces. "What a 
powerful worker of miracles is the human 
imagination !" says Bernheim. Sir B. W. 
Richardson says he never met a case of 
intermittent pulse that was not due to some 
mental cause. During the rush of consump- 
tives to Berlin for inoculation by Dr. Koch's 
tuberculin, a special set of symptoms was 
observed to follow the injection, and these 
symptoms were taken as being diagnostic 
of the existence of tuberculosis; amongst 
others was the symptom of a rise of tem- 
perature after a certain number of hours. 
These phenomena were eagerly looked for 
by patients, and occurred accurately in sev- 
eral who were injected with nothing but 
pure water. 



"RIGHT CONDITIONS" FQR CURE. 107 

Let me inquire, is it any wonder that the 
conditions of scientific investigation are es- 
sentially modified in an organized being 
like man, who is the product of the uncon- 
scious memory of an organism and whose 
physical and mental functions are so re- 
sponsive to suggestion of sundry kinds? 

Carpenter, the well-known writer on 
physiological and psychological subjects, 
says, "That the confident expectation of a 
cure is the most potent means of bringing 
it about, doing that which no medical treat- 
ment can accomplish, may be affirmed as the 
generalized result of experiences of the most 
varied kind extending through a long series 
of ages." A physician's primary aim should 
be to establish in the patient's mind a 
conviction that a cure is about to be made. 
Curative power is in man, and the main 
problem is to learn how to bring it into 
effective action. But enough has been 
learned to give us profound confidence in 
the methods which I am pointing out, de- 



108 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

spite the incredulity and sneers of the ignor- 
ant and inexperienced. 

(2) Then, too, there must be faith on 
the part of both in the means employed. 
Many sick people are cured by Christian 
Science, but they are only those who can be- 
lieve in the tenets of that cult. Those who 
revolt against them remain uncured. The 
same is true of all methods. Blind faith 
is often exercised by the ignorant and super- 
stitious, and may then be effective; but 
faith which has a basis in reason is far 
more active. 

(3) The third "right condition" is pow- 
er in both patient and physician to exer- 
cise volition in an unwavering manner. 
This involves will training. Not every 
physician can use psycho-therapy with sat- 
isfaction. Certain qualities are required, not 
possessed by all. The only thing that will 
assure the future of the patient is a rational 
moralizing psycho-therapy which will 
change the morbid mentality which has de- 
termined the symptoms. That all are not 



"RIGHT CONDITIONS" FOR CURE. 109 

capable of applying such a remedy, I ad- 
mit. To get the best results the physician's 
personality has to be impressive. He must 
get at the keynote of individual natures 
and strike it in good, round, full tones. The 
endeavor should be to raise our patients, to 
give them confidence in themselves, to dis- 
sipate their fears, to quicken their faith, to 
arouse their will. To do this one requires 
strong qualities in himself. He must be a 
master of self. A stream cannot rise higher 
than its source. 

"How can one qualify?" do you ask? I 
reply that will is susceptible of develop- 
ment. One can lay aside his fears and over- 
come his weaknesses by a persistent fol- 
lowing after stalwart ideals. 

When the physician possesses such pow- 
ers he can successfully awaken them in his 
patients, and not till then. I am daily filled 
with astonishment at the evidences of un- 
wisdom, shown in the choice of physicians 
by the people. As long as they are satis- 
fied with the medical aid offered by those 



110 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

totally deficient in strength of character; as 
long as they hitch their faith to men who 
have not backbone enough to meet the ra- 
tional needs of life, or sense enough to 
know truth when they see it, they will con- 
tinue on in full servitude to their mental 
and physical ailments. 

(4) The last "right condition" to be 
considered is that of financial ability in the 
patient and willingness to subordinate ex- 
pense to rational effort. 

There are many suffering from tubercu- 
losis and other serious ailments who, 
though well able to provide for themselves 
every aid and comfort, are too narrow 
minded to do so. Fot such no self-respect- 
ing physician can do his best. But a larger 
number are unable to afford what is most 
essential for their cure. The physician al- 
ways has a goodly number of such patients 
for whom he is doing much, and his time, 
limited by working hours, will not allow 
him to go to the limit of possible aid. The 
conditions of life are often hard, and a 



"RIGHT CONDITIONS" FOR CURE. Ill 

rational survey of them establishes the 
strong probability of a perpetuation of exist- 
ence in some form to lengths which will 
ultimately equalize human benefits, and 
give to all an equal chance to attain. 

Recurring, now, to the question of cure 
for organic diseases by psychic measures, 
let us trace the rationale of an assumption 
that the disease, when treated under right 
conditions, is curable. 

We will assume, then, that a disorder 
which was originally a psycho-neurosis has 
reached a stage where organic changes have 
become established and mechanical, and 
chemical and other physical conditions have 
begun to do their disorganizing work. For 
the sake of consistency we will let it be a 
case of pulmonary tuberculosis, as we at 
first proposed. Now, how can we rationally 
expect to do anything toward radical re- 
lief of such a case through use of psychic 
means? In order to make myself clear I 
shall resort to diagram-making. 

The contributing causes of disease are 



112 



THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 



found in conditions and experiences which 
are embraced in (Aa) hereditary tenden- 
cies, (Ab) auto-suggestion, (Ac) hetero- 
suggestion. Under the latter head may be 




\Nervous Disturbances 




Fig. 12— Showing the genesis of disease in the subconscious- 
ness and indicating some of the causes. Organic disease D 
is the result of the links A, B and Cin the chain. 

included the many occasions of disease con- 
sisting of meteorological changes, unwhole- 
some environment, contagion, direct word 
and action from associates, unhealthy 
thought atmospheres, and numerous other 



"RIGHT CONDITIONS" FOR CURE. 113 

contributions. Treatment instituted against 
these primamy causes of disturbance would 
be of a preventive or prophylactic kind, and 
necessarily of a psychic type. 

As a result of all this, a psychosis, or 
condition of mental modification of a per- 
nicious nature, is set up (B), expressed 
mainly in subconscious thought and action. 
This all occurs in what I have termed the 
prodromal or incubation stage, and is re- 
lievable only by psychic measures. 

We have traced disease genesis in this 
way as far as the limits of subconsciousness, 
and now we find that physical disturbance 
begins (C), through effect on the nervous 
system. Nervous control expressing itself in 
normal conditions of the circulatory system 
is modified, and metabolic action soon be- 
comes unbalanced. There is evidence of de- 
pleted strength and loss of general tone; 
and soon there is unusual susceptibility to 
atmospheric and other changes, and so on. 

Up to this time the disturbance is in the 
functional stage of the conscious phase, 



114 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

and can still be cured, but not by other than 
psychic measures. Efforts to bolster up the 
physical while still leaving the original 
causes uncorrected are utterly useless. 
Treatment has hitherto taken small cog- 
nizance of the latter, though they are al- 
ways not only to be reckoned with, but 
to be given the position of greatest im- 
portance. 

Orthodox medicine admits that psycho- 
therapy is, possibly, thus far effectual, 
thaugh still implying what is not true, that 
the old methods are more reliable. I affirm 
that, without the aid of psychic means, old 
methods are never effectual. They may tem- 
porarily gloss over disorders, but they can 
never cure them. 

Then follows the stage of organic change 
(D). The case becomes one of undoubted 
tuberculosis of the lungs, and the question 
asked early in this lecture — Can organic 
disease be cured by psycho-therapy? — be- 
comes pertinent. 

And now I want to ask, Which course 



"RIGHT CONDITIONS" FOR CURE. 115 

offers encouragement, — (i) that which takes 
cognizance almost wholly of the organic 
conditions as expressed in the diagram at 
D? or (2) that which recognizes the true 
causes of the trouble as expressed in A, B 
and C, and devotes the best part of its 
energies to their removal, leaving unused 
no helpful measures calculated to correct 
the organic disorder? There can be but one 
answer. The truth must be apparent to every 
one of you, that in Psycho-Therapeutics, 
when used with other rational measures, we 
have the best solution of the vexed problem 
of cure. 

This much for the typical case of organic 
disease, which we have been discussing. 
There are many other organic diseases and 
far simpler ones. In how large a percent- 
age of cases right conditions can be estab- 
lished so that suitable psychic treatment can 
be employed, remains to be seen. 

Concerning the range of usefulness of 
psychic means of cure I quote the follow- 
ing apt and emphatic remarks from Du- 



116 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

bois: "There are almost no diseased con- 
ditions," he says, "in which the morale re- 
main unaffected, and in which the physician 
cannot be of some help by his clear, un- 
wavering assurances." The truth is that 
we here have not only a most powerful ad- 
juvant, but a sensible and scientific method 
of cure. Old methods have led us to seek 
the removal of organic disease by merely 
suppressing or lopping off its expressions 
without finding and remedying its true 
causes. I cannot but feel that orthodox 
practitioners 

Stand like the rustic on the river brink 

To see the stream run out. 
But on it flows and still shall flow 

With current never ceasing. 

What egregious fools we mortals are! 
How can we reasonably expect to cleanse 
a stream by turning its turbid waters, al- 
ready far down on their course, over pebbly 
beds of gravel and along a sunlit way, 
knowing all the while that it drains a great 
cesspool? How much better to attack the 



DOES NOT CLAIM TO MAKE CURES. 117 

foul thing at its source by cleansing and 
purifying the waters ere they carry their 
pestilence into nearby villages and happy 
homes! We learn wisdom but slowly. 

Does Not Claim to Make Uniform Cures. 

I do not claim, as I have already assured 
you, that psycho-therapeutics is capable of 
bringing uniform relief, but I have here at- 
tempted to show that there is a good frame- 
work of theory on which to predicate a 
reasonable expectation of cure. The princi- 
ples of psycho-therapy are well established. 
I do not need to say that, as in a measure 
demonstrating the theories herein advanced, 
I could adduce numerous clinical cases from 
my own practice as well as that of others. 
My conversion to psychic measures has been 
brought about through clinical experience. 
I have no doubt that my confidence has 
lately enabled me to make some cures which 
would not have crowned the efforts of a 
mere experimenter; but this is only another 
proof of the reliability of psychic laws. Go 
thou and do likewise. 



118 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

The world needs men — large-hearted, manly men, 
Men who will stand for truth though the heavens 

fall, 
Unheeding the derision of the ignorant. 
The age wants heroes — heroes who shall dare 
Enough for those who suffer needlessly 
To cheerfully despise opinion and 
Courageously bring in a better day. 



Lesson V 



THE ROLE OF HYPNOTISM 



119 



The patient who comes to you believing in your 
power to hypnotize him will readily go under con- 
trol. The skeptic will not. And yet faith must meet 
faith. It is only when you yourself are absolutely 
confident, that you can succeed. Your doubt is para- 
lyzing. The patient is not controlled by your strength 
of -will, as -will is commonly understood, but by your 
faith, your confidence your assurance. 



120 



INTRODUCTION TO LESSON V. 



It is astonishing how unfriendly is the general 
spirit of medicine toward anything immaterial! 
Only a few years ago there went out from various 
medical societies a positive denial of the possi- 
bility of hypnosis, branding all who stood for it 
as either pretenders or idiots. When ultimately the 
genuineness of the alleged phenomena could no 
longer be questioned, it was asserted that the effects 
could not fail to be pernicious. In 1902, a special 
Commission of the Berlin-Brandenburg Medical 
Council made an adverse report on hypnotism; but 
it was subsequently shown that the report was 
based on prejudice instead of investigation and ob- 
servation. What we who practice hypnotism in 
a consistent way are now seeking to establish is 
its innocuousness in the hands of those who in its 
use are actuated by commendable motives. There 
is no power at our command which does not offer 
possibilities of harm in the use of evil-minded or 
ignorant men and women; but is its careful and 
conscientious use to be condemned because of such 
possibilities? Assuredly not. 

In hypnotism we certainly have an engine of 
power. It is a demonstrable therapeutic resource 
of a most potent type. Let those who doubt, come 
and see. Even the most skeptical are beginning 
to recognize in mental suggestion the underlying 
principle of all human action. We act because 
we are acted upon. Every movement of the body, 

121 



122 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

every state of the organism and every thought of 
the mind is a product of suggestion. Disease is 
both engendered and cured by it. It is a funda- 
mental in every form of therapia. 

There is no doubt that we receive many of our 
most eflective suggestions during natural sleep, and 
hypnosis, like natural sleep, is a desirable thera- 
peutic state only because it furnishes a condition 
favorable to pronounced conscious and subconscious 
mental impression. It is itself but an evidence of 
suggestive energy. 

There is a place in medicine for hypnotism. 
For the present it will probably be as a specialty, 
or in connection with other forms of treatment 
for nervous disorders. But the time is coming when 
the general practitioner will daily avail himself 
of the potent power of hypnotic suggestion. There 
is a wide field for its use in the management of 
acute ailments, and especially in children's dis- 
eases. It should be remembered that experience has 
shown that nearly every second child can be put 
into deep hypnosis. The ingenious physician will 
be able to find many conditions wherein hypnosis 
can be made to render a most useful service. 

In the hands of conscientious practitioners it will 
prove to be an inestimable blessing to mankind. 

While it is true that every doctor is not suited 
to such work, the old notion that one requires 
what is commonly recognized as occult powers in 
order to be successful, is an error. Anyone can 
learn how to exercise hypnotic control. It is prac- 
tice that gives confidence and facility. 



THE ROLE OF HYPNOTISM. 



I approach this topic with both caution 
and confidence. With caution because I re- 
alize that there is great prejudice in both 
professional and lay circles against hypno- 
tism; with confidence because I know that 
those who hear these words will go away 
with a more rational opinion of it. 1 

Popular Errors Concerning Hypnotism. 

As there have thus far risen few prac- 
titioners of the methods, possessed of men- 
tal and moral qualities sufficiently pro- 
nounced to commend them to the people, 
what is popularly known of hypnotism has 
been learned chiefly from the entertainment 
platform and books written by men incapa- 
ble of appreciating the theory in its true 
breadth and relations, and of using it in 
a commendable way. Certain extravagances 
have been associated with the popular un- 
derstanding of it, which must be stripped 

123 



124 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

away, and then we shall have a method of 
disease cure well worth while. 2 

It has been said that the subject upon 
whom it is practiced has to yield his per- 
sonality and independence to the operator 
and may thus become weak-willed and in- 
ane. But this is not true. Does one who 
resolutely puts himself into a passive state 
for purposes of rest, as we all do every 
night, does he, by thus relinquishing his 
consciousness, lose any of his power? No! 
We are told that he gains by so doing. The 
strong man does so in a most thorough way, 
and it is the weak and disordered who make 
so poor use of sleeping hours. 

But, you say, in yielding to sleep we 
give ourselves up to no one. Very true, 
and you thus become a prey to many 
influences not felt by one in hypnosis. We 
often get much harm, as well as help, dur- 
ing ordinary sleep. 3 In hypnosis, induced 
by a sensible and reliable operator, the sub- 
ject's mind is filled only with wholesome 
ideas and his powers are aroused by strong 



NOT ESSENTIAL. 125 

and noble suggestions. Instead of being 
a twentieth century psychological crime it 
can thus easily be made a great psychologi- 
cal blessing. About a great truth there is 
always a considerable fringe of danger 
upon which the designing and weak lay 
hold and use to their selfish advantage. Let 
us in this consideration of hypnotism as an 
occasional aid in the application of psycho- 
therapeutics take care to winnow the grains 
of truth from the mass of misconception 
and misuse in which they have long been 
buried. I stand for a wise, serious, helpful 
use of hypnotism in selected cases. Beyond 
this I myself do not go, nor over this con- 
servative line would I encourage you to 
pass. 4 

Not Essential to Psycho-Therapeutics. 

Hypnotism is a collective phenomenon of 
mental suggestion. It is not at all essential 
to the practice of psycho-therapeutics. There 
are many in medical ranks who suppose 
that, in order to adopt suggestive therapeu- 
tics into their practice would necessitate 



126 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

their becoming hypnotists, — a title from 
which they shrink. It is true that nearly all 
successful practitioners of psycho-therapy 
do employ hypnotism to a certain extent, 
but many use it little, and some not at all. 

As far back as 1846 Braid, the practition- 
er who did more than anyone else to eluci- 
date the phenomenon of the state we term 
hypnosis and to give it its present name, 
mentions in his work entitled "The Power of 
the Mind Over the Body" the fact that men- 
tal suggestion is clothed with power inde- 
pendently of the hypnotic state. This feature 
of the subject attracted little attention until 
Bernheim made his 1883 report to the Con- 
gress for the Advancement of Science, held 
at Rouen. Dr. Paul Dubois, professor of 
Neuropathology at the University of Berne, 
Switzerland, is the most conspicuous advo- 
cate of the application of mental therapeu- 
tics in the wakeful state. "The psycho-ther- 
apy which I call rational," he says, "has 
no need of this sort of preparatory narcosis 
of hypnosis, or of this hypersuggestibility 



NOT ESSENTIAL. 127 

that is itself suggested." It is psycho-thera- 
peutics of this kind which is most com- 
monly followed in my own practice. In 
using it, no attempt is made to put the 
patient asleep. No definite effort is made, 
as a rule, to induce any particular attitude 
of mind in the patient save one of readiness 
to reason, the object being to convince him 
of the desirability and practicability of the 
self-mastery to which we aim to see him 
rise. Most frequently I merely ask the pa- 
tient to relax, and assume, as far as possi- 
ble, a receptive attitude. I repeat that it is 
only exceptionally that I employ hypno- 
tism. 

Such treatments are what Dubois aptly 
calls them, "therapeutic conversations." 
They are in no pronounced sense hypnotic 
exhibitions. There is a popular opinion to 
the effect that all response to direct appeal, 
whether it be made by the political "spell- 
binder" or by the confidence man, is an ex- 
ample of hypnotic effect. Hypnosis means 
sleep, and any state of the organism fall- 



128 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

ing short of it is not, in a strict sense, an 
example of hypnosis, though it is commonly 
regarded as such. 5 

Patient Rarely Entirely Asleep. 

In truth the so-called hypnotic state is 
rarely one of real sleep. The patient is in 
a state of semi-wakefulness, having a fairly 
good idea of the general situation, hearing 
the voice of the operator, and, to a limited 
extent, reasoning on the suggestions of- 
fered. This is why it is so hard for him to 
realize that he has been influenced. He 
hears the operator say, "You are fast 
asleep," but there is upon him a lethargy 
which makes opposition to the thought next 
to impossible, though he may turn over 
the suggestion in his mind with quasi 
humor. But that it is not impossible to 
oppose a suggestion is shown by the fact 
that the spell is broken under the stress of 
obnoxious insistence. The power of mem- 
ory for the ordinary ideas presented and 
acts performed may be lost; but for any- 
thing which is unusual or outrageous the 



PATIENT RARELY ENTIRELY ASLEEP. 129 

memory is often active and unequivocal. 
Further consideration of the phenomena 
will presently be taken up. 

In our study of psycho-therapeutics we 
have especial interest in hypnotism in its 
relation to disease cure, and do not need to 
enter into a detailed study of phenomena 
in their various aspects and relations. The 
questions for us to consider are: 

(i) The utility of hypnosis in medical 
practice, and 

(2) The class of cases to which it is 
best adapted. 

But before taking up these questions at 
length we shall do well to glance at the 
possible dangers of hypnotism. 

It is only by a careful study of phenom- 
ena that we shall be able to arrive at a just 
opinion concerning them, since the knowl- 
edge of the nature of a thing must pre- 
cede one's estimate of its possibilities. The 
practice of hypnotism has been paraded as 
a great psychological crime by those who 
have little practical knowledge of it; but 



130 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

such denunciation of it, I am well con- 
vinced, has sprung only fron an inexact 
acquaintance with its nature, and repre- 
sents the action of an uncontrolled and fren- 
zied emotion. 

Subjective Phenomena, 

In studying the subject let us examine, 
(i) subjective phenomena, and (2) object- 
ive phenomena, i. e., (1) what the subject 
experiences, and (2) what the observer wit- 
nesses. 

In the vast majority of cases conscious- 
ness is not lost, but there is a variable de- 
gree of influence felt. Moreover, within 
limits, the patient feels what the operator 
suggests. Such limitations are set not so 
much by mental and physical peculiarities 
as by the patient's own thinking and will- 
ing. When we submit ourselves to hypno- 
sis we should do so in the spirit of one en- 
gaging a guide to conduct him through 
an unknown region. For the time being in- 
dividual judgment and volition are to be 



SUBJECTIVE PHENOMENA. 131 

laid aside and we are to become willing sub- 
jects. 

Resistance to hypnotic influence is al- 
ways effectual, unless offered in doubt and 
fear. I have taken persons whom I thought 
might be good subjects and assured them 




Fig. 13— Showing a hypnotized subject. 

of my ability to do the simpler things, such 
as to make an arm powerless or to seal the 
eyelids, and found, on test, that there was 
positively no responce to my suggestions, 
for the reason, as I soon learned, that the 
subjects had offered decided resistance to my 
attempts. On assuring them of the positive 



132 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

harmlessness of the proposed phenomena, I 
have been able to produce in them the very- 
conditions which they at first declined. 

Let us suppose that a willing subject 
occupies the chair. As soon as the operator 
begins to make his suggestions of sleep 
there comes over the subject an increasing 
drowsiness to which he yields. He may not 
go into such sleep as he usually has at 
night, and yet he does not feel quite awake. 
The operator says, "You are fast asleep!" 
He knows he is not, and yet he has no dis- 
position to question the assertion. He is 
told that he cannot open his eyes. He does 
not . dispute the affirmation, and yet he be- 
lieves his eyes would open if only he cared 
to open them. But he does not care to. 
His will is that of the operator. His own 
will has been surrendered for the time be- 
ing, and he does not care to assert it. As 
long as the operator keeps within bounds 
the subject lets him proceed. Should he 
make unreasonable or offensive demands, 
awaking strong emotions, like those of bad 



SUBJECTIVE PHENOMENA. 133 

dreams, the sleep is broken and he is 
at once wide awake. As for conscious mem- 
ory, it is much like that of dreams, hazy 
and inexact. There are lapses, though he 
may feel sure that he has an unbroken 
chain of memories. Patients who take an- 
esthetics are sometimes hard to convince 
that they have been unconscious, though 
they have no memory of the operation. The 
evidence of the clock is often the only thing 
capable of convincing us that we have been 
asleep at certain hours of the night. Those 
who declare that they heard the clock strike 
every hour all night by this testimony fur- 
nish no evidence that they have been awake 
all night. In my sleeping-room I have a 
night-clock which has been the means of 
giving me many proofs of unrecognized 
sleep. No one, thus far in the world's his- 
tory, has ever awakened and caught him- 
self asleep. 6 

I have told you that the hypnotized sub- 
ject accepts the operator's affirmations con- 
cerning his condition and situation with 



134 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

willingness, and I want to add that he as 
cheerfully accepts his assurances of waking 
in response to a signal, so that when the 
signal is given he can no longer continue 
in lethargy. There is often a sleepy feel- 
ing for a few moments after waking, just 
as there is following natural sleep. 

These facts constitute the chief phenom- 
ena of hypnotism from the patient's point 
of view. Many subjects go into a deeper 
state, from which they are aroused in a 
similar way. 

There is a prevalent notion that it is 
sometimes difficult or impossible to awaken 
a patient from hypnotic sleep. I have never 
had such an experience. Bernheim and Lie- 
beault, who have hypnotized many thou- 
sands, report no such cases. A hysterical 
patient may occasionally have a nervous 
paroxysm during which she might drop out 
of hypnotic relation to the operator, and 
thus give some trouble to one who does 
not know how to give prompt relief; but 



OBJECTIVE PHENOMENA. 135 

the state forms no organic part of the hyp- 
nosis. 

Objective Phenomena. 

Now let us look at these phenomena from 
the side of the operator. 

I put a patient into the chair, tell him 
to relax, and then, after closing his eyes and 
giving them a few strokes of the fingers, 
tell him in assuring tones that he cannot 
open his eyes, at the same time giving him 
liberty to do so. Success in opening his 
eyes is proof of his conscious or subcon- 
scious resistance to the suggestion. He was 
consciously or subconsciously saying to him- 
self, "He can't influence me. I have no faith 
in such things." I then explain the difficulty 
to him and ask him to offer no conscious ob- 
jection, but to be passive until I give him 
leave to open his eyes. Then I most frequent- 
ly succeed, and often to the patient's sur- 
prise. This test is made, if made at all, to 
convince the patient of the power there is in 
mental suggestion. It really is a positive ad- 



136 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

vantage, for, if one finds that his body can 
be made to respond to another by means of 
an appeal to one's own conscious and sub- 
conscious forces, it furnishes a guarantee of 
aid and comfort against the various be- 
setments of life. I should be glad to find 
one capable of setting my forces into such 
helpful action, since it would be to me a 
guaranty of aid in possible emergencies, 
when perhaps my own condition might be 
so negative as to need help. Such situa- 
tions are liable to come to all. 

Having made a test, like this or not, and 
having succeeded or not, I proceed to put 
the patient into a receptive attitude of mind. 
I sometimes have him look at the point of 
my finger held a few inches from his eyes 
and somewhat above their level, and bid 
him think only of sleep. Then I begin to 
assure him that the eyes are getting tired 
and sleepy, repeating the assurances in a 
monotonous way; that he is feeling heavy 
all over; that he is really going to sleep. 
Soon the eyes close and he is under the sug- 



OBJECTIVE PHENOMENA. 



137 



gestive spell. How do I know this to be 
true? I can test him, if I will, after giving 
the assurance of anesthesia, by touching the 
conjunctiva or by pricking him. But there 






Slight 
Drowsiness. 



Cannot Onen Eyes, 



Suggested Catalepsy 
Heavier Sleep ** 



Evident Influence, & 
More Pronounced Catalepsy 



Under Better Control ojOoerater, 
Contractures on Suggestion^ 



Influence, Positive, Rises & Walks on 
Suggestion, Good Control, Imperfect Memory 




Fig. 14— Showing the degrees of hypnosis according to 
Bernheim. 

are many, really hypnotized, who cannot be 
made to respond to the suggestion of anes- 
thesia. Is the patient in natural sleep insensi- 
ble to such tests? Verily not; and they 



138 



THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 



would immediately awaken him. The same 
manner of reasoning applies to hypnosis, for 
hypnotic sleep is much like natural sleep. 
Then how can we really know in all cases 
whether the patient is in true hypnosis or 
not? We cannot; but, for all practical pur- 
poses it does not matter. He is surely in a 
receptive state, and suggestion will do its 




Fig. 15— Showing the degrees of hypnosis according to Forel. 



curative work. I have a patient now in this 
room on whom I never appear to produce 
any hypnotic effect, but who assures me that 
she always feels the immediate good effects 
of the treatment. I go through the usual 
formula, as she prefers to have me do so, 
and I am bringing her into health and hap- 
piness. 7 



HYPNOTISM ALWAYS HELPFUL. 139 

While in this state I give nothing but 
helpful suggestions. Among other things 
I assure the patient of increasing self-com- 
mand. I build up his will power, and soon 
have the pleasure of seeing him come into 
stronger and better living. 

Hypnotism Always Helpful in Right Hands. 
I am out of all patience with the carping 
idiots who denounce hypnotism itself be- 
cause it has often been used by designing 
and unscrupulous men to turn their sub- 
jects, for the time being, into clowns for 
the delectation of an audience. Hypnotism 
has been denounced in unmeasured terms 
by those who know nothing of its sane and 
helpful use. With as great justice might 
electrical energy be declared a public curse 
because its ignorant use has resulted in 
many fatalities. They say it weakens the 
will to surrender it even for a moment. 
Does it weaken the body to relax? Does 
it weaken the will to yield to the fantastic 
dreams of natural sleep, against the effect 
of which one has no protection? No more 



140 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

does it weaken the will to go into hypnotic 
sleep, the fancies of which are kept under 
wise control by one who seeks to give aid. 
Show me one single harmful effect of 
hypnosis in patients under my direction 
and I will promise either to insure its cor- 
rection or renounce the practice of hypno- 
tism forever. No! No! In the hands of a 
wise operator it never does harm. If peo- 
ple only knew the good capable of being 
done through its means, and the uplift of 
mind and body to which it opens the way, 
they would all be seeking to come under 
its helpful influence. 

Causes of Failure* 

All are not equally successful in inducing 
the phenomena. The effect is wholly de- 
pendent on the patient's faith, and faith in 
turn answers only to right stimulation. The 
patient who comes to you believing in your 
power to hypnotize him will readily go un- 
der control. The skeptic will not. And 
yet faith must meet faith. It is only when 
you yourself are absolutely confident, that 



THE UTILITY OF HYPNOTISM. 141 

you can succeed. Your doubt is paralyz- 
ing. Remember that. The patient is not 
controlled by your strength of will, as will 
is commonly understood, but by your faith, 
your confidence, your assurance. 

The Utility of Hypnotism in Medical Practice. 

Let us now return to the question of the 
utility of hypnotism in medical practice. In 
showing what it is capable of doing and 
in disclosing its utter harmlessness, under 
wise use, I have sufficiently answered this 
question, and we will consider it settled. 

As to the class of cases to which it is 
best suited I can only refer you to what I 
have already said concerning the range of 
applicability of psychic methods in general. 
And yet I use hypnotism in only a small 
proportion of cases. Why? Because (i) 
there is ignorant prejudice against it, and 
(2) it supplies no superior advantages in 
cases as they ordinarily present. 

It has been supposed that, in hypnosis, 
our appeal is mainly to the subconscious- 
ness in a direct way. This I regard as not 



142 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

wholly true. If it were I should prefer not 
to use it in other than irrational and pe- 
culiarly obstinate cases. I did formerly ac- 
cept that theory and that is why I used it 
so infrequently. I can now see my error. 
In any case we should hope permanently 
to establish wholesome conditions in a pa- 
tient only through education of the reason 
— by appeals to his moral nature, his real 
principles of action. I believe that this can 
be done in most instances without the use 
of hypnotism. It can doubtless be some- 
what hastened by means of hypnotism. If 
this is true, can I not sanely insist, in 
view of the innocuousness of the method, 
that it should be as freely used as the 
physician may deem wise? 

In conclusion let me mention some of the 
ailments in which it has been found cura- 
tive. How much larger the list may yet be- 
come in the practice of greater physicians, 
remains to be seen. In addition to the dis- 
eases named it should not be forgotten that 
it can give great comfort even when it can- 



THE UTILITY OF HYPNOTISM. 143 

not cure; so that we are unable justly to 
limit its field of helpfulness in human pathol- 
ogy- 

In addition to hysterical diseases, neuro- 
pathic affections, neuroses, dynamic pareses 
and paralyses, gastro-intestinal affections, 
rheumatism, neuralgia, menstrual troubles, 
and so on, all of which have an unques- 
tioned psychotic basis, various organic dis- 
eases have been cured, among them being 
hemiplegia, traumatic epilepsy, exophthal- 
mic goitre, traumatic paresis, inflammations 
of various parts and the results thereof, and 
when used in connection with other meas- 
ures, even tubercular and cancerous affec- 
tions. Hypnotism has shown good results 
in so large a number and variety of organic 
as well as functional disorders that its posi- 
tion as a means of cure must be regarded 
as in the front rank. That it is necessary to 
employ it in preference to non-hypnotic 
suggestion, in most cases, I am not willing 
to admit, though my opinion of its virtues 
is daily enlarging. 8 



Lesson VI 



PSYCHO-THERAPY IN 

ORDINARY PRACTICE 



145 



To be sure, the largest curative field of psycho- 
therapy is found in nervous ailments, but chiefly 
because psycho-neuroses constitute the vast bulk of 
disease from which humanity is suffering. 



146 



INTRODUCTION TO LESSON VI. 



It is easy enough to obtain a theoretical concep- 
tion of a method. General principles are quickly 
learned. One can be a good academician without 
being a successful practitioner. The important con- 
nection is the link which unites theory to practice, 
and that is what each must supply for himself. But 
in this instance I can point out the way in general 
terms. To be sure there is great clamor for precise 
and explicit directions; but those who lay great 
store by them are the unsuccessful among us. 
There is no grand, royal way to success, for each 
is the necessary arbiter and architect of his own 
fortune. 

At the same time I may say that in many in- 
stances the general practitioner is wise in bring- 
ing to bear his suggestive aid in a covert way, 
since to proceed differently would be likely to 
awaken prejudice and arouse opposition. In other 
instances his most effective course is the open one. 

In the adaptation of psychic measures, no less 
than in other action, it is essential for the physi- 
cian to be "as wise as a serpent and as harmless 
as a dove." He can safely lay his hand on the 
forehead and eyes of one confined to the bed, and, 
with gentle strokes and soothing words, offer most 
effective suggestion or even enjoin sleep. He can 
arouse by strong encouragement, or, if necessary, 
by positive, but kind, command, thereby setting into 
fresh action strong mental and physical energies. 

147 



148 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

He can be the very embodiment of courage and 
hope when everything about looks most forbidding. 
He can rally fortitude when it falters and support 
courage when it wanes. He can encourage one 
who must go down to the dark shores of death to 
walk with an unfaltering step and a cheerful smile. 

This is what the physician should always aim 
consistently to do, and in the doing he will exhibit 
the best kind of pscyho-therapy. 

But don't expect me to tell you just how to do 
all of this. If you are so wanting in tact and in- 
tuition that you can do nothing without it, your 
place is not in medical practice, for therein is de- 
manded a liberal supply of both these qualities. 

With a knowledge of the principles of psycho- 
therapy given in these lessons he is a poor physi- 
cian indeed who cannot bring to his patient's help 
a wealth of immaterial aid which will characterize 
his practice by peculiar success. 



ADAPTATION OF PSYCHO-THERAPY 
TO PRACTICE. 



The physician who has built up a cli- 
entage upon a basis of drug practice, or the 
surgeon who has devoted himself to his 
specialty with an assurance that he is of 
service to humanity, cannot easily be in- 
duced to make radical changes in his meth- 
ods. He must become convinced that the 
proposed innovations are sound in prin- 
ciple and effective in practice before he will 
consider even a serious trial of pronounced 
innovations in his routine work. He is will- 
ing to make a tentative use of new drugs or 
a new surgical method; but anything at all 
revolutionary in its effects he turns aside 
without consideration until it comes to him 
with the hall-mark of popular or profession- 
al approval. Nor do I blame him. It is for 
this reason that a few of us who have come 
out squarely for psycho-therapy and the 
mental origin of disease are seeking to cre- 

149 



150 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

ate a situation that shall work the desired 
result. 

In the preceding lectures I have given 
you a sufficiently comprehensive statement 
of the principles upon which a rational psy- 
cho-therapy is built, and the general range 
of efficiency of the various methods pro- 
posed. I have also furnished you with a 
description of the particular forms of treat- 
ment which, in my practice, are pursued. 
Besides, I have demonstrated them on the 
platform in order that you might see how 
they work out in practice. 1 At the same 
time I realize that since my practice is 
given over largely to a use of these meth- 
ods, and also, since the bulk of my work is 
on chronic ailments, there is a special need 
of more explicit adaptation of the principles 
of cure herein proposed to the requirements 
of the physician in routine practice. I am 
often asked if psycho-therapy is applicable 
to acute as well as chronic diseases. It 
surely is, and my present purpose is to give 
you an intimation of how it may be applied 



ADAPTATION OF PSYCHO-THERAPY. 151 

in your daily rounds. The early part of 
my drug practice was in families, and I 
well know the needs of that form of medical 
service. 

A few will doubtless be attracted, as was 
I, to a line of work in which psycho-therapy 
shall constitute the chief means of cure. 
There is a place for a limited number of 
such physicians in every community; but 
the average doctor will err in assuming such 
a role. There is a well-founded prejudice in 
the profession against exclusive practice, 
and this itself will deter most practitioners 
from following it. Besides, it requires a 
particular order of talent to fit one to do 
good work in psycho-therapeutics as a spe- 
cialty. Relatively few would find success in 
following it. 

What is more, the time has not yet come 
for an abrogation of drug and mechanical 
practice. There is a large body of humanity 
which will always demand objective meas- 
ures of cure. Kindergarten methods will 
ever be the broadly successful ones among 



152 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

such. They want remedies having an offen- 
sive taste, and measures which hurt, or else 
their faith remains unevoked. 

Value of Mental Suggestion in Mixed Prac- 
tice. 

However, even among the most ignorant 
there is a place of service for psycho-ther- 
apy. The measures commonly used, and 
which at their best are not very satisfactory 
in their action, can be given point and effici- 
ency by well-directed suggestion. Before 
giving a remedy the physician ought to fol- 
low the successful practice of the great Dr. 
Rush, dilating on its qualities and marking 
out the effects likely to be obtained from 
its use. When expectation is thus awakened 
psychic influences are set into conjoint ac- 
tion with the drug and then the designed 
effects are far more likely to be had. In 
the use of electricity, vibration, surgery, etc., 
the good effect of treatment can be greatly 
enhanced by suitable suggestion. It is the 
fortune of the general practitioner to run 
across many cases of nervous disorder of 



VALUE IN OBSTETRICS. 153 

various kinds, which, under old methods of 
treatment, are not only intractable, but can- 
not long be held to a regime which soon 
demonstrates its inability to cure. Just in 
proportion to the amount of psychological 
aid brought into the management will be 
the satisfaction of the patient as well as the 
good effect of it. 2 

Turning now from these general con- 
siderations let us study in a more detailed 
and explicit way the uses to which psycho- 
therapy can be effectively put in general 
practice. 

Value in Obstetrics. 

In obstetrics it is invaluable. I am a firm 
believer in the activity of prenatal influences 
and do not hesitate to advocate a careful 
supervision of the pregnant woman with 
special reference not only to her protection 
against unwholesome influences, but also to 
the inculcation of practices of thinking and 
acting calculated to maintain in her a quiet 
and hopeful frame of mind. She should be 
taught the general principles of psychic 



154 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

health, and encouraged to put them into 
active practice. 

Most women believe in the salutary effect 
of such treatment and readily submit to it. 
It is a great advantage to pregnant women 
to be under favorable psychic influences, 
such as the wise physician can throw about 
them during gestation. 

It is common for women, especially after 
one or two experiences, to approach con- 
finement with fear. The inexperienced are 
more courageous. Much can be done to in- 
still assurance. No doubt concerning the 
outcome should be allowed. 3 

But it is during labor that a peculiar 
value of psychic measures becomes more 
apparent. It is astonishing with what clear- 
ness of perception a parturient woman reads 
the mental state of the medical attendant 
from his words and demeanor. The obstet- 
rician, like the surgeon, requires to be calm 
and self-possessed, and his success in this 
branch of practice depends in large measure 
on the quiet and invigorating atmosphere 



VALUE IN OBSTETRICS. 155 

with which he is able to fill the lying-in 
chamber. In a large consultation practice 
I have seen this demonstrated again and 
again. 

And then, when emergencies do arise, that 
one is successful in carrying his patient to 
a successful issue whose calmness of mind 
and quietness of demeanor are strongly in 
evidence. It is something more than stoi- 
cism. It is rather the self-reliance and trust 
of a great soul. Serious consequences usu- 
ally follow hard on the heels of agitation and 
mistrust. In every case we should have in 
mind the wise handling of a possible con- 
tingency, and then when a contingency is 
met we are well prepared to manage it in 
an orderly manner. Prevision does not mean 
fear, but wisdom. It signifies a brave spirit, 
for it is the coward who cannot bear to 
provide against possible dangers because of 
a fear that he will thus invite them. 4 Emer- 
gencies are not to be feared, but to be 
guarded against. 

Having forearmed ourselves against con- 



156 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

tingent evils, we should proceed with our 
work as though it were impossible for such 
evils to find their way in. 

Should it become necessary to do any un- 
usual thing in the interest of the patient or 
offspring, one should proceed about it as 
though it were an expected and incidental 
affair possessing no great significance in the 
hands of one who knows. 

These are principles of action applicable 
not only to obstetric practice but to all the 
experiences of a doctor's life, and should be 
well pondered. The doctor's actions and 
tones, as well as his utterances, when an 
emergency arises, should say to the patient 
and friends, "We are at a turn in the way 
at which I thought we might come, and 
against which I have provided. Be calm! 
Possess your souls in patience and courage. 
I am equal to the occasion. There is no call 
for alarm. The situation was not to be 
chosen, but it has no implacable features." 

In how great contrast does this stand with 
the following from the lips of another, "It's 



VALUE IN PEDIATRICS. 157 

too bad, but what I feared has occurred. I 
don't know what the result will be. I would 
far rather meet the devil than this thing. 
But we must be brave. Keep good heart and 
it may be we shall yet come safely through. 
If I had only known such an event were in 
store for us I would have prepared against 
it; but if the worst come I may be able to 

get help. I hope Dr. — is get-at-able, 

Be brave! I confess we are in a bad fix, 
but it will not aid us to cry." And then, on 
the side, "Have you some brandy or whiskey 
at hand? I feel a little unsteady. There is a 
hard task before me." Is it any wonder that 
defeat follows the banner of so many prac- 
titioners? 

Psycho-therapy ! Mental medicine ! It is 
more needed in medical and surgical prac- 
tice than most physicians are willing to 
admit. 

Value in Pediatrics. 

A rational mental method is of superior im- 
portance in the treatment of children. There 
is no branch of practice which to me is so 



158 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

satisfying as pediatrics. I was asked during 
this course of lectures whether children can 
be successfully treated by means of psychic 
methods, the questioner supposing, as do 
many, that the subconsciousness has to be 
approached wholly by the conscious route. 
The truth is that the consciousness of the 
child is far more acute than we would infer 
from appearances. But when we rule out 
of consideration the child's reason, there is 
still ample evidence of the accessibility of 
subconsciousness. To be sure it is prefer- 
able to bring about control of subconscious 
activities through the reasoning faculties; 
and in very young children we cannot hope 
to do this in a satisfactory way, though 
doubtless our ultimate purposes can still be 
accomplished. We must not forget that the 
subconsciousness possesses the mental at- 
tributes of will, intellect and emotion; that 
its understanding is higher and subtler than 
that of consciousness, and that it can take 
its orders directly from the physician. Nor 
need this be thought incredible by the skep- 



VALUE IN PEDIATRICS. 159 

tic; it cannot be in view of the phenomena 
presented by hypnotism, ordinary sleep and 
drug anesthesia. 

Let us suppose that the physician has 
been called to a child in whom he finds ele- 
vated temperature, restlessness, sleepless- 
ness or drowsiness, rapid pulse, nervous 
breathing and indications of epigastric pain. 
His purpose is to give as speedy and perfect 
relief as possible. In ordinary practice the 
custom is to exhibit a remedy calculated to 
reduce the temperature and to soothe the 
pain. A laxative is also given. He then 
trusts the case to the action of the natural 
forces, and usually this is quite sufficient. 
The astonishing part, to many, is, that, even 
when no remedies are given, such a case or- 
dinarily does as well, or better. Why should 
it not when the physician casts about the 
child the calming and toning influence of his 
own strong mentality? He may, for intensi- 
fication of effect, lay his hands on the child's 
head and stomach for a few minutes, at the 
same time asserting prompt relief. Children 



160 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

react quickly under favorable psychic condi- 
tions, the subconsciousness coming prompt- 
ly to their rescue. 

Its Sedative and Anondyne Action in Acute 
Ailments, 

Should it be necessary to administer a 
sedative in any case, drug action can be 
quickened and given peculiar efficiency, and 
the size of the dose be reduced to a mini- 
mum, as I have already intimated, by a con- 
current use of strong mental suggestion. 
You will readily see that there is a suitable 
place for psycho-therapy in the management 
of the various ailments to which children are 
subject. A child who has reached the age of 
two or three years can be reasoned with, and 
the consciousness can be made to compre- 
hend whatever psychic action it may be the 
physician's aim to set up. Children are pe- 
culiarly susceptible to hypnotic effect. An 
infant is readily brought under its spell. It 
is through such action that the mother or 
nurse is able so easily to quiet a crying baby. 
Monotonous tones, rhythmical movements 



CONSTITUTIONAL EFFECTS. 161 

and peculiar noises, catch and hold the in- 
fant's attention so that the consciousness of 
distress is overcome. If even the stupid hen 
can be thrown into hypnosis, then surely the 
child can be, and, when thus stilled, dis-ease 
loses its power over the little subject. 

One of the most obstinate and annoying 
troubles of early infancy is constipation, and 
it is perfectly amenable to psychic treat- 
ment. Let the earnest, unskeptical mother 
try it for this trouble and she will no longer 
question its power. Lay the hand on the 
abdomen and then speak words of command 
to the intestinal energies. The act must be 
done in faith. The will must say, "I can do 
this thing. Activity is being awakened. 
Energy is being set in motion." This seems 
like a simple treatment, but there is a good 
deal more sense in it, and far more efficiency, 
than in many of the orthodox practices. The 
child, like the adult, is a sentient being. 

Constitutional Effects. 

Then there are the chronic ailments of 
children, the mental and moral weaknesses 



162 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

and perversions over which the rational 
psycho-therapy herein advocated has marvel- 
lous control. Effects can be produced with 
or without hypnosis. 

Furthermore, by accustoming a child to 
the sound of the voice, natural sleep can be 
made to serve the purpose of hypnotic sleep. 
As soon as it is found possible to speak to 
a child in emphatic tones without waking 
him, suggestions can be made as in hyp- 
nosis. Mothers can thus be made to act as 
efficient assistants to the attending physi- 
cian. 5 The natural and efficient remedy for 
enuresis is hypnotic or natural sleep sugges- 
tion. You know what an obstinate ailment 
it often proves to be. 

I should love to linger in this part of my 
discussion, but I must hasten on. A word to 
the wise is sufficient. 

Even the dog knows his natural enemies 
and is quick to recognize friends. This is 
equally true of children. Love them if you 
want to treat their ailments successfully. 



VALUE AS AN ANODYNE. 163 

Its Value as an Anodyne. 

Then there is that long list of painful 
maladies in older people, wherein distress is 
largely in definite relation to mental disci- 
pline or lack of it, in the subject. It is quite 
true that some people suffer far more from 
the same causes than do others. Some are 
sensitive and some are not; but the sensi- 
bility of one is due in great measure to a 
state of inexperience growing out of indul- 
gence, and the hardness of the other is large- 
ly attributable to toughening experiences 
repeatedly borne. Pain has a psychic basis, 
and the overcoming of pain lies in the direc- 
tion of strong endurance. Here again in- 
heritance plays a prominent role ; but all hu- 
man beings can become enduring if they will 
bear their incidental sufferings with resolu- 
tion and be ready voluntarily to undertake 
enterprises which call for use of the strong 
forces of their being. 

The physician in ordinary practice here 
has rightly a fine field of usefulness. He can 



164 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

make over his patients, transforming them 
from weakness to strength, from feeble and 
complaining sufferers into strong and un- 
murmuring ones. 

Beyond all this, which is a most ideal 
background for human experience, the phy- 
sician can use psychic measures successfully 
to combat suffering. Direct suggestion is of 
great service. Destroy the dignity given to 
the pain by the patient's thought, through 
ridicule or rallying pleasantry. Making light 
of suffering is in some patients peculiarly 
serviceable. To be sure the physician must 
know his subject. In other cases it is far 
better to resort to simple expedients wherein 
the main benefit is to be derived from other 
forms of direct or indirect mental sugges- 
tion. 

I believe it wise to lead patients to under- 
stand that there is value in the touch. Many 
a sufferer is almost instantly relieved by the 
laying on of hands. I have thus subdued 
pain which was giving rise to screams. We 



VALUE AS AN ANODYNE. 165 

can sometimes make of mental means the 
best possible sedatives and narcotics. 

But I would not advise you in every case 
of irrational or excessive pain to resort to 
plain psychic measures. There are so many 
people who need props and supports, — some 
objective thing upon which to rest their 
faith, — that the physician is fully justified in 
resorting to adjuvants which per se have no 
curative or even ameliorative virtues. A 
well-administered placebo is often justifiable 
and lends much effect. If it have a vile 
taste, so much the better for some patients. 
A clergyman of world-wide reputation who 
was subject to recurring pain from arthritis, 
thought he had found relief for acute attacks 
in electricity. He had been provided with a 
small battery which was used from time to 
time as it was needed. The preacher's phy- 
sician told me, that, on one occasion, he was 
asked to call in the night and bring his 
larger battery, as the smaller one had failed 
to give relief. Now, it so happened that the 
large battery was out of order and would not 



166 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

pay out a current ; but it was used in regular 
form and with good effect, drawing from the 
dominie a commendation of "the superior 
virtues of a large battery." It is a shame 
that humanity so mistrusts its powers that 
those who offer aid are driven to subterfuge 
to supply the means of relief. 

There is an obligation upon the medical 
profession to lay aside its commercial spirit 
and bring men to a knowledge of their own 
inherent powers. As rapidly as possible 
there should be developed a spirit of inde- 
pendence which shall declare for an exhibi- 
tion of truth in its nakedness. Subterfuge 
will ultimately be laid aside by all save the 
charlatan, and the principles of psychic med- 
icine will be proclaimed and practiced in an 
honest and open way. In my own work I 
now rarely resort to other than direct 
psychic measures. I despise deceit. At the 
same time the conditions are such that the 
average doctor cannot yet do as he would 
without suffering great loss of practice and 
orthodox standing in the profession. But 



VALUE IN NERVOUS DISORDERS. 167 

the time is not distant when all this will be 
changed, and then the memories of pioneers 
who are now suffering denunciation will be 
justly celebrated. Such has ever been the 
history of great reforms. 

In the hands of practitioners of independ- 
ence and force, hypnotism can be made to 
give remarkable aid in all the acute diseases 
It has not yet been determined to what 
lengths the influence of hypnotic suggestion 
can be carried in the direct cure of a long 
list of common ailments, such as pleurisy, 
pneumonia, acute rheumatic and rheuma- 
toid affections, and inflammatory lesions in 
general, but it is well known that the power 
of mind over circulation and innervation is 
nearly absolute, and we are learning that 
this psychic energy is under the pronounced 
control of suggestion. It remains for the 
general practitioner to determine what can 
be done in these directions. 

Value in Nervous Disorders. 

To be sure, the largest curative field of 
psycho-therapy is found in nervous ailments, 



168 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

but chiefly because psycho-neuroses consti- 
tute the vast bulk of disease from which hu- 
manity is suffering. The people need educa- 
tion and training in psychic things. The cure 
of nervous disorder lies mainly in this direc- 
tion. I consider that my work consists 
mainly in developing within my patients 
latent powers. It is a process of unfoldment. 
Here is a new patient this very morning who 
has spent at least two-thirds of her time in 
bed for many years. She has been a marked 
neurasthenic for twenty years. She is a 
curse to herself and family. I say curse, for 
it is not a necessary affliction. Can she get 
well ? Yes, but not through the use of drugs 
and other makeshifts. She has to be edu- 
cated out of bed. I shall have to play the 
pedagogue, teaching, encouraging, disciplin- 
ing, until I successfully induct her into the 
great arcanum of rational living and think- 
ing. That I can do so I do not doubt. 

It is unwise to mince matters with pa- 
tients. Be frank and uncovered in your ex- 
pressed opinions and in your practice. Re- 



PRECISE METHODS. 169 

nounce deceit. And yet, in it all, be kind 
and wise. Tact is never to be tabooed. We 
sometimes forget that, though built upon 
misconception of the due relations of things, 
nervous disorders are true diseases — as true 
as variola or typhoid, both of which can be 
avoided by the practice of wise prophylaxis. 

Treat these nervous patients considerate- 
ly, but strongly, and gradually lead them to 
more salubrious altitudes and attitudes. You 
can do so and the obligation is upon you to 
do so. 

Arrest of disease in its early stages should 
be the aim of the general practitioner, — 
the family physician. The people need in- 
struction, and that instruction can be given 
in the form of therapeutic conversations or 
consultations. As soon as the value of such 
things is better known there will be a large 
demand for them. 

Precise Methods. 

A few words concerning precise methods, 
and I have done. I am not a stickler for them. 
I do not follow unvarying forms. The chief 



170 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

purpose is to impress. Study how this can 
best be done in particular cases. Individual- 
ize. Do not try to make your patients con- 
form to a definite type. Sometimes you will 
do no more than give didactic instruction. 
Sometimes you will be able to provide ob- 
ject lessons. The use of charts and quota- 




Fiq. 16— Showing a lowering of the head in certain anemic and 
other subjects for suggestive purposes. 

tions is to be commended. Make the course 
as plain as possible. Show what it is to use 
the will and how to make its use consistent. 
Teach the value of self-reliance and seek by 
every possible means to bring them into self- 
mastery. Declare that the body as well as 
mind is susceptible to control. Give them 
formulas for auto-suggestion, if you will. 6 



PRECISE METHODS. 



171 



Enjoin upon them quiet moments for self- 
exercise in strong thinking and willing. 
Show them the damning effect of fear and 
distrust. In short, seek by every reasonable 
means, not forgetting hypnosis, to bring pa- 




Fig. 17— Treatment giving. 

tients into light and liberty. Psychic meas- 
ures can and will prevail. 

To do all of this the physician himself 
needs much replenishing. 7 If he is to give 
out freely of good things he must keep him- 
self full of them. An empty head and heart 



172 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

can give but little aid. Life, and life more 
abundant, must be his. A true richness of 
spirit and greatness of soul must be behind 
all who would become eminently success- 
ful. With all your getting get these and 
you will become a fountain of refreshment to 
many people, a well-spring of joy to many 
souls, and a source of healing to many 
bodies. 



APPENDIX 



173 



APPENDIX 



LESSON I. 

(1) There is no doubt that much better execution 
results from abandonment of one's self to subcon- 
scious action. In literary composition it is only 
when this has been done that the fountains of 
mind appear to open up. So long as one is under 
the restraint of conscious adherence to rhetorical 
and grammatical construction, excellence on the 
side of strong popular impression is always want- 
ing. It is equally true in the practice of medicine. 
Much better results are obtained when we trust to 
subconscious promptings, no matter what the dis- 
order, than when we feel bound by ordinary rules 
of action. All such work is inspirational. 

(2) Witness the phobias of neurasthenia with 
the consequent weaknesses. The patient says. "I 
know these fears are irrational just as well as you; 
but I am overcome by the flood of feeling in which 
I am immersed." 



LESSON II. 

(1) This is a fundamental theorem. If disease 
really springs from the causes commonly stated, 
we ought to get better results from material reme- 
dies. But, since the true causes reach back into 
mental states, mental remedies constitute our 
chiefest hope of cure. 

175 



176 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

(2) I recently cured a bad case of hysteria by 
means of a good scolding followed by most con- 
siderate and kind treatment. The scolding was 
accompanied by exercise of authority, and, while 
it excited great anger for a few minutes, it cleared 
the mental horizon and opened a way to success. 



LESSON III. 

(1) To some it seems a pity that advanced think- 
ers are not in closer accord; but to me it is cause 
for rejoicing, since by getting a view of truth from 
different points we can form a better conception 
of its composite whole. No two can see a thing 
from the same angle, and yet the object stands 
there in its simple nakedness. 

(2) There are many who draw nice distinctions 
between mental and spiritual things; but I con- 
fess my inability to recognize any differences. A 
good friend of mine, a well-known physician, told 
me the other day that he didn't believe in going 
far into a study of psychology, for he believed that 
true healing was "spiritual" rather than ' 'mental. ; 

(3) Paracelsus is here in error. It DOES make 
a difference what is the object of one's faith. The 
character of a result bears a distinct relation to 
the character and strength of the stimulus. This 
is true throughout nature. 

(4) Certain skeptics account it ridiculous for 
concrete man to appeal to particular phases of his 
own mind. To me it is not an incongruous act 
in view of his composite nature. Conscious man 



APPENDIX. 177 

can consistently make direct appeals to any part 
of his mental, as well as physical organism. 



LESSON IV. 

(1) When Jesus on one occasion returned to 
"his home country," it is said of him. "He did 
not many mighty works there because of their un- 
belief." 

(2) The laity have not yet come in large num- 
bers to know the discouraging state of drug therapy. 
It is only the novitiate in the profession who has 
the temerity to claim that drugs can cure organic 
disease. Tfie experienced know that they cannot. 

(3) It is hoped that the student will get a clear 
conception of what is meant by this. Deviation 
from the common and ordinary in form and struc- 
ture is in itself not conclusive evidence of disease. 

(4) I choose phthisis pulmonaris in order to 
bring out all the essential features of cure. I have 
not yet cured such a case, but I have reason to 
believe it has been cured by psychic means as ap- 
plied by others. 

(5) Let no doubting Thomas say, "He has taken 
as an illustrative example of cure of organic dis- 
ease a lesion which he now admits he has not been 
able to treat successfully, and therefore his ar- 
gument falls to the ground." The planet Uranus 
was theoretically found before Herschel's telescope 
was able to locate it. I have chosen pulmonary 
tuberculosis as an extreme type of organic dis- 
ease, since, if its cure can be rationally provided 
for, all other organic disease would quickly fall 



178 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

into the curative category. There are many simpler 
organic lesions concerning the cure of which there 
is no question. 

LESSON V. 

(1) Prejudice against hypnotism has probably 
arisen through the innate aversion of orthodoxy in 
general to radical changes. It is a natural reluc- 
tance, and is therefore to be patiently borne. The 
consensus of opinion, like mass action everywhere, 
is always conservative and it is fortunate that 
it is so, even though prevailing standards be glar- 
ingly defective. We witness the same conservatism 
in our physical and mental standards of action, and 
this explains the slowness of curative movement 
in cases of long standing. 

(2) It is with such a purpose that I have taken 
up the practice. I may suffer obloquy and be reck- 
oned a quack; but this I can cheerfully bear that 
I may gain, for those who suffer, the ultimate recog- 
nition of an efficient means of cure. 

(3) We do not yet know much of the ill-effects 
of sleep, though they doubtless exist. I could point 
out many. 

(4) While this is literally true, I confess to a 
growing appreciation of the advantages afforded 
by hypotism. I am using it far more frequently 
than I did even a year ago. 

(5) And yet I would not deny that it is a con- 
trol, a spell, a charm thrown over the patient 
which enables the physician successfully to prac- 
tice his methods of cure. In large measure it is 
an example of the personal equation. 



APPENDIX. 179 

(6) I have frequently demonstrated the efficiency 
of suggestion in patients in the deep degree of 
hypnosis. When "sleeping like a log" in response 
to suggestion, and even when breathing heavily like 
one in profound natural sleep, they have been keen 
to accept suggestion and act upon it. 

(7) Even though the patient carry out a sug- 
gestion through a spirit of willing compliance, good 
results will ensue, since such compliance better en- 
ables the curative suggestions to take effect. 

(8) At my clinic I am able to demonstrate, to 
those who want to know, what the various psychic 
measures are capable of doing. 

(9) How to overcome the difficulties often met 
in practicing hypnotism is a question of impor- 
tance to the novice. 

Methods and operators doubtless constitute varia- 
ble factors in hypnotic work as shown by statis- 
tics. Wetterstand succeeds with 3051 out of 3148; 
Van Renterghem and Van Eeden 1031 out of 1089; 
Velander 980 out of 1000; von Schrenck 211 out of 
240; Tuckey 220 out of 250. 

Failures are usually due (1) to inexperience or 
want of confidence in the operator, or (2) to agita- 
tion or positive resistance in the subject. Those 
who are exceedingly anxious to be hypnotized, as 
well as those who are filled with fear of the state 
despite their seeming willingness, are hard to affect. 
On failing with a subject the cause should be 
sought out, and, if possible, removed. 

Success is more likely if a patient can be taken 
by some degree of surprise. Long explanations and 
elaborate preparations are unfavorable. Methods 
will have to be varied to suit particular conditions. 



180 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

Fixing the eyes on your own or on a small object 
held near them for only a minute or two, is some- 
times an aid. 

The operator's evident confidence and enthusiasm 
are of greater value than anything else. Be hold 
and resolute if you would succeed. In any way 
to express doubt is fatal. 



LESSON VI. 

(1) The author demonstrated on the platform 
not only the phenomena of hypnotism, but also 
his non-hypnotic methods. 

After putting a patient into the hypnotic state, 
as can be done by a variety of methods, some of 
which have already been given, it is the author's 
practice to enter at some length, and in an em- 
phatic way, upon a rational and assuring discus- 
sion of the patient's particular case. In doing 
this much emphasis is placed upon assurance of 
speedy and complete recovery; but recovery which 
avails itself of rational means. Leading the pa- 
tient to expect a steady and natural development 
of his powers, a physiological action of the most 
natural sort is set up, and, under continued treat- 
ment, goes on to completion. 

A similar course is pursued in non-hypnotic treat- 
ment. The patient is put upon a couch or in an 
office chair in a semi-recumbent posture. The 
hand is then laid over the forehead and eyes, so as 
to command attention and produce an impression, 
and an optimistic discussion of the case entered 



APPENDIX. 181 

upon. By repeating such treatments time a"hd again 
the designed effect is produced. 

(2) A considerable percentage of a physician's 
practice is made up of office work. Office treat- 
ments which involve embarrassment and pain prove 
irksome and distasteful to most patients, and dis- 
appointing to the physician. For a good part of 
this work psycho-therapy can be substituted with 
curative effect, and for it most patients form a 
liking. 

(3) Here is a department of practice which the 
physician will do well to cultivate. The value of 
it to both mother and child is not properly appre- 
ciated. In such treatments an attempt should be 
made to cast about the woman an atmosphere of as- 
surance which will dispel all fear concerning both 
herself and offspring so common in gestation. 
Those who are thus treated come to labor with a 
wholesome confidence in both physician and the 
outcome, and this is well calculated to minimize 
pain and danger and to insure a good getting up. 

(4) Among psycho-therapeutists I have found a 
prevalent disposition to run away from trouble. 
They refrain from mentioning it for fear that it 
might thus be made more tenacious. But the cour- 
ageous way is always better. When we look our 
troubles squarely in the eyes and give them our 
defiance we achieve the most. 

(5) A little practice will soon yield satisfactory 
results. It is better to talk the child asleep, now 
and then. This amounts to an induction of hyp- 
nosis. Smooth its forehead and hair and say sleep- 
producing things. Sleep will soon ensue and then 
the purposed suggestions can be made. The too 



182 THE PSYCHIC SOLUTION. 

deep sleep of most children who are troubled with 
bed-wetting can thus be overcome and the sensi- 
bilities be made to give sufficient warning to occa- 
sion waking. 

(6) Instruct the patient to go by himself every 
day and give himself the following, or similar, sug- 
gestions: 

I AM GOING TO GET WELL! 

HEALING POWER IS WITHIN ME, AND I 
NOW EVOKE IT! 

I AM GETTING BETTER! 

TRANQUILLITY OF MIND AND HEALTH OF 
BODY ARE COMING INTO MY LIFE! 

I HAVE MY UPS AND DOWNS, BUT, 
THROUGH ALL, I AM COMING TO ABUNDANT 
LIFE, AND HEALTH, AND PEACE! 

(7) The physician should be well furnished with 
literature of an inspiring and convincing kind. 
One can maintain an interest in only those things 
to which he gives much thought and study. 

The author has prepared a list of books of special 
value to the practitioner of psychic methods which 
will be furnished, without expense, to those who 
send for it. Address the publishers of these lessons. 



Worth Reading Many Times 



Are the contents of "THOUGHT." 

It stands for quality rather than quantity. 

The only magazine in its field, and it fills a most impor- 
tant place in modern thought. 

It is a magazine of CONSTRUCTIVE IDEALISM. 

You will prize every copy. 

On sale at the News Stands, or send 1 cents for a Sample 
Copy. $1.00 a year in the United States. 



MAGNUM BONUM COMPANY, 

4665 LAKE AVE., CHICAGO. 




The Ideal Realized 



"AS YE WILL," by Sheldon Leavitt, M. D., is 
the very book for which modern thought has 
been reaching out. It is a work on CON- 
STRUCTIVE IDEALISM toward which humanity 
is now so vigorously turning. 

" How am I to get well ?" " How am I to 
keep well when disease stalks abroad and strikes 
down so many ?" " Where is the royal road to 
health, happiness and success?" "Amid the 
mazes of life how am I to know the way ?" 

These are some of the questions answered in 
" AS YE WILL," in plain language. Its ideas 
are clear cut and forceful. 

You will make no mistake in getting it. 

Elegantly bound in blue silk cloth and gold. 
$1.50. 

Address : 

MAGNUM BONUM COMPANY 
4665 Lake Avenue - - CHICAGO 



PATHS TO THE HEIGHTS 




(JUST GUT) 

12mo., beautifully bound in 

cloth. 

Price, postpaid, $1.10. 



It is a work which represents 
the ripest thought and most 
practical teaching of the author. 

By means of it one can learn 
truly to rise to the heights of 
Spiritual, Mental and Physic- 
al Success. 

B^ 33 It is an epoch-making book 
and ought to be in the hands 
of every man and woman in 
America. 

It will carry life, health and 
joy to many people. 



A book of 270 pages and should sell 
for once again as much. 



1654 Massachusetts Avenue, 
Dear Dr. Leavitt: Cambridge, Mass. 

I am reading "Paths to the Heights" with great sat- 
isfaction. Its wise conservatism mingled with its rational 
progressiveness, together with the scientific point of view, 
make it a well rounded work in every particular. Your 
practical experience in therapeutics of various kinds give 
it additional value. It is made up of well-balanced prac- 
tice rather than mere theory. 

Hoping it may have a wide circulation, I am 
Very cordially yours, 

Henry Wood. 



St. Paul's Church Rectory, 
Office of 967 W. Monroe St., Chicago, III. 

Rt. Rev. Samuel Fallows, LL. D. 
My Dear Dr. Leavitt: 

I am reading "Paths to the Heights" with great 
delight. Very sincerely yours, 

{Bishop) Samuel Fallows. 



TELEPATHY 

12 mo., 112 pages. Illustrated. 
Price, Cloth, $1.00. Paper, 50 cents. 



CONTENTS. 

The Origin of Disease — The Germ Theory — Protective 
Agents — A Deeper Etiological View — Proximate and Re- 
mote Causes — Is Perpetual Health Desirable ? 

Telepathy — The Framework — Mind and Thought — Tele- 
pathic Phenomena — Is Telepathy an Established Fact ? — 
Evidence from Society for Psychical Research. 

Collateral Observations — X-Rays and Telepathy — Clair- 
voyance. 

Healing by Psycho-Therapy — Unrecognized Telepathy — 
Methods. 

The Talking Machine as an Aid to Telepathy. 



A FEW COMMENTS. 

Dr. Leavitt is the editor of the valuable little magazine 
called Thought. Telepathy, or the absent Treatment of 
Disease, is a work of rare data concerning Telepathy, Psy- 
chological Phenomena and the possibilities of mental power 
and all psychic forces. Its arguments and theories are 
scientifically set forth, and sustained to logical conclusions. 
It is not one of the dull books on these subjects, but is a 
fascinating recital of modern actual evolvement in the 
realm of mind. — The New Way. 

Dr. Sheldon Leavitt: 

My Dear Sir — I thank you very much for the little vol- 
ume on "Absent Treatment" (Telepathy). I am sure 
that you are right. The world will finally come to the 
same method of cure for diseases of the body and mind. 
Yours sincerely, 

Rev. John L. Jackson. 

Dear Dr. Leavitt — Your kind favor received in the 

form of the very charming book, which I am reading with 

pleasure and profit. You certainly have gone to the heart 

of things in a way that no one else has of whom I know. 

So here is a hand grasp over the miles, and I am ever 

Yours sincerely, 

Elbert Hubbard 



AUG 5 1908 



